Father to be retried for 2008 murder of four children

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - An Alabama Appeals court has thrown out the 2009 conviction and death sentence of the man accused of killing his four small children by tossing them off the Dauphin Island bridge.

The children's uncle, Kam Phengsisboum, was a spokes person for the family during the tragic ordeal.  He found out about the Appeal Courts ruling Saturday morning.

"It's just a big shock for me, and it's going to be a big shock for the family too, once I tell them what's going on, because I don't think they follow up with the internet and all that, because most of the family members don't speak English, that's why I was the interpreter for the family," Phengsisboum said.

Defense lawyers said Lam Luong was on drugs when he threw his children, ranged in age from 3- to 4-months-old, from the Dauphin Island Bridge in January of 2008. 

The appeals court ruled the judge was wrong in refusing to move the case outside of Mobile County. 

The children's uncle believes a new trial will reopen painful wounds for the family.

"She had a baby boy, he's almost two, but now I think it's a bad idea to stir up everything right now to let her find out about this, to go through the whole trial again, all the pictures, and all the video and everything it's going to bring up," he said.

Former District Attorney John Tyson Junior was shocked when he found out about the ruling late Friday. 

"I'm completely astonished. I think the case was exceedingly well-tried. I thought both the prosecution and the defense did good work," Tyson said.

Tyson doesn't think a change of venue will change the outcome of the case.

"I'm completely confident that this man did what we accused him of doing,  I'm completely confident that he received a fair and constitutional trial, and I'm completely confident that if we were to try this case anywhere in the state of Alabama we'd get the same results," Tyson said.

It will be up to the new District Attorney to try the new trial, but Tyson said he has one recommendation before that happens.

"The next step, and certainly one I will recommend to our District Attorney, and to our Attorney General, is to appeal this to the Alabama Supreme Court. That is an option, and I think it should be vigorously pursued," he said.

The decision will be up to District Attorney Ashley Rich.  She was unavailable for comment Saturday.

We were also unable to reach Lam Luong's defense lawyer