Dawn Chung is patiently awaiting the day her daughter’s prison sentence ends.
“2021,” she said, when asked what year her daughter Dawn Nguyen would be released. “Hopefully I’m still alive by then,” she said.
It’s been five years since Nguyen was sentenced to eight years in prison for buying a gun for William Spengler.
Spengler used that weapon to kill two West Webster firefighters and injure others on Christmas Eve back in 2012.
Chung said now, she can’t help but compare it to the Charlie Tan case.
Tan, who was found not guilty in a murder case involving his father, was brought up on gun charges for getting a friend to buy him the gun used to murder his father.
Chung doesn’t understand how that friend, Whitney Knickerbocker, after cutting a deal with prosecutors, got no jail time while her daughter got eight years for essentially the same crime.
“To me, he’s more involved in this because when you buy it the same day, you pretty much know what’s going on,” Chung said. “The thing that kills me is comparing this to Dawn, she bought guns three years before and never planned the murder. There’s a big difference.”
Chung said her daughter shares her sentiments, but can’t do anything except patiently serve out the rest of her time behind bars.
“It’s been over 5 years [and] she’s never been in trouble yet. She’ll get out and she’ll still be good.”
