The tragic saga of the death of Linda Trinh, the 21-year-old Hopkins senior slain in her apartment two years ago, has finally drawn to a close, as the man who plead guilty to killing her was officially sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 8.
Under a plea agreement struck with prosecutors last November, Donta M. Allen, 28, will be eligible for parole in the future, after a period of 11.5 years and only with permission from the governor, according to Maryland state law. Prosecutor Matthew Fraling, however, expects Allen to serve for 50-60 years before that possibility appears.
During his sentencing hearing, Allen admitted to Judge Roger Brown and Trinh's attendant family members that he felt remorse for his actions, several local news sources reported.
A Baltimore native who socialized with Trinh's Alpha Phi sorority sisters and worked at restaurants in the area, Allen had entered Trinh's apartment on the day of her death, intending to steal money from what he thought was a vacated home. Instead, Trinh confronted him and a physical altercation resulted, during which Allen beat and finally strangled Trinh.
"I took away something that was far better than I am," Allen said during his hearing, and apologized to Trinh's family members for their loss.
According to his defense attorney Warren A. Brown, his client's remorse -- coupled with abundant physical evidence, including DNA samples, that linked Allen to the murder -- was a crucial factor that led Allen to enter a guilty plea.
"The evidence was overwhelming, and he was overwhelmed with grief," Brown told the News-Letter last November, after the plea agreement had been publicly announced. "He was sorry that he took someone's life."
Brown also added that killing Trinh had not been Allen's original intent. "He didn't wake that morning thinking he would kill somebody," he said.
Fraling told the court at Allen's sentencing hearing that "cowardice" had led him to attack Trinh, a slight woman who was easily physically overpowered by her intruder. That same quality, the prosecutor added, allowed Allen to take advantage of much-younger Hopkins students, many of whom referred to him in private as "Mr. Sketchy."
Despite a strong case against Allen, Fraling said that he decided not to pursue a criminal trial and agreed to a plea bargain in order to avoid a lengthy procedure that would worsen the strain on Trinh's family.
The victim's family and friends expressed their continued shock and devastation at the sentencing hearing. Quang Trinh, the victim's brother, told the court that he didn't understand why Allen had been granted a plea deal.
"My life has been forever changed by the heinous acts of this evil individual," Quang said.
Statements from Trinh's family and friends, including several of her Hopkins classmates, emphasized her hope to help others through medicine.
Trinh, who had been a biomedical engineering major, spent the summer before her death in Vietnam to study the effects of breast cancer and HIV/AIDS on underprivileged populations.
