Hmong Defendant May Use Cultural Defense

Hmong Defendant May Use Cultural Defense

Among the factors that might come into play:

• Did reported tensions between Hmong and white hunters play a role in the shooting?

• Had Vang been racially harassed in the past, prompting him to react with fear and anger?

• Was Vang confused about American private property and hunting laws, having been accustomed to roaming freely in the woods of his native Laos?

Haven't followed every twist of the case, but just from having been back to western Wisconsin a couple times recently, I'll observe that the backlash to such an argument would be immense... I'm having bad memories of the Native treaty battles of the late 1980s - except this would be worse since we're talking about murder, not fishing and game limits.