Prosecutors who downgraded charges against a convicted sexual offender after she allegedly attacked a man without provocation with a sucker punch are now seeking that the charges be raised.
August 12 in the Bronx, 55-year-old Van Phu Bui attacked 52-year-old Jesus Cortes, leaving him with a skull fracture and a brain bleed.
After the horrifying assault was captured on tape, prosecutors lowered Bui’s charges to a misdemeanor and released him without bail.
Despite the police releasing the CCTV film, they asserted that the evidence at the time only supported misdemeanor charges.
However, he was subsequently incarcerated after New York Governor Kathy Hochul asked prosecutors to enhance the charges against him.
She asserted that the assault and arrest constituted a violation of his lifetime parole for the sex offense.
Now, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office is requesting that his charges be upgraded to attempted murder.
The 55-year-old Van Phu Bui was detained on accusations of attempted murder, but the district attorney filed misdemeanor charges later. Now he is complaining that he shouldn’t be imprisoned because Jesus Cortes survived the attack.
Jesus Cortes, 52, sustained a broken skull and a cerebral hemorrhage after Van Phu Bui, 55, attacked him earlier this year.
It would imply that Bui would remain incarcerated and, if convicted, his sentence may be increased.
According to the New York Post, when Bui appeared in court yesterday, the district attorney informed the judge that they planned to urge a grand jury to strengthen the charges against him.
It is unclear what accusations Bui could face or how many felonies he could be charged with.
The Bronx district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Bui is refusing to testify, and it is believed that a grand jury is preparing fresh, enhanced charges against him.
Casey Trimbl of the Legal Aid Society represents Bui and opposes the prosecution’s motion to alter the victim’s protection order.
Prosecutors wish to prohibit him from communicating with Cortes’ family, who reside in the same neighborhood.
Judge Srividya Pappachan granted the protection order to only Cortes, causing his brother Juan to weep in court upon hearing the judgment.
Surveillance footage depicts the horrifying moment Bui donned gloves, swung with enormous force, and struck the victim in the back of the skull.
After the abrupt assault, he falls to the ground, apparently unconscious, and hits his head on the concrete.
The NYPD asserts that he punched the victim in the face “without any prior talk or altercation” before “returning to the restaurant and then disappearing.”
Bui was convicted of attempted robbery in 1991 and is a registered sexual offender; on December 24, 1994, he was paroled after being found guilty of raping a 17-year-old girl at gunpoint. In March of 2019, he was released from jail.
After appearing before a court and being charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment, he was permitted to leave Bronx Criminal Court immediately on supervised release without bond.
Bui complained to the New York Post that he had no memory of the attack, claiming he ‘blacked out’
He stated, “He is living.” He has not died. I praise God that he survived. I didn’t want to cause him so much pain. I only struck him once.
I cannot recall anything in particular. I was really mad,. I’ve never done anything comparable. It was my very first time.
‘I’m not a violent person. That’s not who I am. I would not repeat the action. I’m sorry. I am aware that I have done something wrong. I therefore turned myself in.
If I could see him, I would apologize and tell him I’m sorry, despite the fact that the judge has ordered me to avoid him. If he wants me to pay his medical bills, I have no problem doing so.
At a parole hearing on Saturday, after New York Governor Kathy Hochul had ordered Bui’s return to prison, he was described as a ‘potential menace to the community’
At his hearing, his parole officer, Nixa Rivera, stated, ‘Mr. Bui is a 55-year-old male with a history of repeat violent criminal convictions.
Mr. Bui is a level three sexual offender, which is the highest classification on the sexual offender registry. Mr. Bui remains an imminent danger to the community.
Rivera stated that Bui has lived in a shelter for six years and appears to have no family or community links.
His only job for the past two years has been operating the cash register at a nail salon.
Shortly before the attack, Bui positions himself behind his victim, then attacks him in front of a group of witnesses outside the restaurant.
At a parole hearing on Saturday, when New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered Bui’s return to prison, he was deemed a “imminent threat to the community.”
Cortes’s brother Juan Cortes told DailyMail.com that his brother has been removed off a ventilator and is healing.
Juan Cortes referred to Bui as a “evil person” and stated that the criminal charges should have been filed from the beginning.
According to court documents acquired by DailyMail.com, Bui was charged with lesser offenses since he ‘intentionally (caused) physical injury and with the intent to harass, irritate, or scare another person.’
Bui was convicted of attempted robbery in 1991 and is a registered sexual offender; in 1994, he was on parole after being convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl at gunpoint on Christmas Eve. In March of 2019, he was released from jail.
In frightening footage obtained by the NYPD, Bui can be seen leaving the Bronx restaurant Fuego Tipico and putting on gloves.
He is then seen punching the guy in the back of the head with significant force. After the unprovoked assault, the victim was discovered unconscious and lifeless on the ground and was brought to the hospital.
In a court-documented communication with his parole officer, Bui recounts the incident as follows: ‘I’m in trouble. Someone I struck is in the hospital.
I do not know whether he is dead. Police are searching for me. I was at the restaurant, and I am aware that the cops are searching for me.