A Burmese man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison and is facing deportation for killing the same woman he risked his life for during a harrowing journey through the U.S. immigration system.
Tialhei Zathang stabbed his wife to death in front of their children when he was too drunk to realize what he was doing, defense attorney Donna Coleman told Baltimore County Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts. Zathang, who was reunited with his family in 2004 after he fled to America seeking asylum in 1998, choked back sobs, as he told the judge he was sorry.
“If I had the chance, I would never drink again,” he said. “I love my wife and my children. I hope they can stay in this country to have the life I wanted for them.”
Zathang pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and state prosecutors asked Ballou-Watts to consider a 30-year sentence ? five years longer than guidelines.
Ballou-Watts said she believed Zathang?s remorse was genuine, but said she had to consider graphic photos of his wife?s injuries, and that his two children ? who were 10 and 11 at the time ? witnessed the murder.
Zathang and his wife, Hlawntial, might have been arguing about his drinking before the incident, according to the police report. The children overheard their mother say, “What did you get the knife for? Are you going to kill me?” before they saw her collapse.
Assistant State?s Attorney James Gentry called the case one of the most “perplexing” he?s ever worked on.
Zathang?s children are in the custody of their maternal uncle, Coleman said, while Citizenship and Immigration Services investigates her client.
The Los Angeles Times chronicled Zathang?s heroic and agonizing efforts to reunite his family in America in several stories.
He was arrested and beaten for his religious beliefs in Myanmar, the name given to Burma byits military rulers, before the family fled to India, where Hlawntial and the children hid.
