Loi Nguyen was arraigned from his hospital bed shortly after the crisis ended and charged with 54 felonies, including murder. Nguyen's attorney, Sacramento public defender Linda Parisi, argued that Loi Nguyen was trying to make peace, based on witness testimony and recorded audio, and did not deserve the death penalty; she pointed to Long Nguyen as the leader. However, Rebecca Moore, a sheriff's detective, pointed out that Loi Nguyen had purchased the guns, driven the group to the store, and had handled most of the negotiations: "In my opinion he is the most responsible party for this thing going down." Because of pre-trial publicity, the trial was moved to San Francisco. He was convicted on February 8, 1995, on 51 felony counts: three for murder, eight for attempted murder, two for assault with a firearm, and 38 for kidnapping, after two days of jury deliberation. On March 28, the jury recommended a life sentence in prison rather than the death penalty, after four more hours of deliberation.