An Orange County jury convicted actor Joseph Hyungmin Son yesterday of torturing a woman he kidnapped off a street in Huntington Beach, Calif. in 1990, according to news reports.
Son, 40, faces a prison term of 15 years to life when he is sentenced on Sept. 9.
The jury, made up of eight men and four women, deliberated for three hours before returning a not guilty verdict for conspiracy to commit murder and a guilty verdict for torture, according to the Orange County Register.
Son, who also had a brief and unsuccessful stint as a mixed-martial arts fighter, shook his head briefly when the guilty verdict was announced. He was quickly handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom.
Deputy District Attorney Eric Scarbrough told the jury in his final arguments Thursday that Son is a sadist who gained pleasure from the suffering of the 19-year-old woman he and his crime partner abducted at gunpoint on Christmas Eve, and then sexually assaulted in the back seat of a car while telling her repeatedly that she was going to die.
Son, of Garden Grove, tortured her to get her to acquiesce to his desire to sexually assault her, Scarbrough contended.
Son was initially charged in 2008 for multiple sexual offenses in connection with the crime but the charges were later dropped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, according to the Los Angeles Times. Son’s accomplice was given a 17-year prison sentence last January after pleading guilty to to rape, kidnapping and other charges.
Son is best known as an actor for his role as “Random Task” in the first Austin Powers movie in 1997.
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