Thien Minh Ly's Killer: "I Am Not a Monster"  Last week, we
featured the story of Gunner Jay Lindberg's attempts to get off
California's death row by arguing that his brutal, 1996 ambush
murder of Thien Minh Ly, a popular Vietnamese American
immigrant, was not a hate crime related to white supremacist
views. (That story can be found here, for those of you who
missed it.)  The state's Supreme Court is considering Lindberg's
claims and is due to issue an opinion this summer.  Yesterday,
we received a handwritten letter from Lindberg, who expressed
sorrow.  "I've never denied that I took Mr. Thien Minh Ly's life
--but not for the reasons I was convicted," Lindberg wrote from
condemned row in the notorious San Quentin State Prison. "It was
not a robbery nor was it a hate crime. I do believe I should pay
for my crime as I took his life, so I see my punishment as
justice. I know if it were someone in my family I'd want justice
and no amount of sorrys would change that. I'm no where near
perfect, but I'm not a monste