TUSTIN

An appellate court rejected a 20-year-old man’s efforts to challenge his conviction for helping murder honor student Thien Minh Ly, 24. Domenic Christopher, who was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for his role in the racially motivated killing, claimed Tustin police violated his constitutional rights by questioning him without a lawyer present. Christopher’s cohort, white supremacist Gunner J. Lindberg, was the first defendant in state history to sentenced by a jury to death for a hate crime. Ly, a Vietnamese-American UCLA student, was killed while practicing in-line skating at Tustin High School.