Omer Ninham

Case record: Omer Ninham

Status and legal outcome

Omer Ninham was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on June 29, 2000. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld his life-without-parole sentence.

The offence

On September 24, 1998, around dusk, 13-year-old Vang was bicycling home along Webster Avenue in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Vang’s older brother had sent Vang to the grocery store for tomatoes. Vang was returning home on his bicycle, carrying a plastic grocery bag filled with tomatoes, when he was approached by five juveniles: 14-year-old Ninham, 13-year-old Richard Crapeau, 13-year-old Jeffrey P., 14-year-old Amanda G., and 14-year-old Christin J. Ninham and the other four juveniles did not know or recognize Vang. By all accounts, Vang never said or did anything to provoke the five juveniles.

Crapeau said to Ninham, "Let's mess with this kid," and Ninham responded, "'I got your back,' meaning he would back [Crapeau] up in a fight." Ninham and Crapeau began by verbally taunting Vang, while the other three juveniles "egg[ed]" them on.

Crapeau bumped into Vang’s shoulder and yanked his bicycle away from him. Crapeau also grabbed Vang’s grocery bag out of his hands and threw it in the direction of St. Vincent's Hospital, located along the same street. When Vang asked for his bicycle back, Ninham punched Vang, knocking him down.

Vang got up and started running towards the nearby St. Vincent's Hospital parking ramp. All five juveniles chased after Vang, eventually catching up to him on the top, or fifth floor, of the parking ramp. When they caught up to him, Crapeau punched Vang in the face. Vang repeatedly asked why they were trying to hurt him and pleaded with them to leave him alone. Instead, Ninham and Crapeau began pushing Vang back and forth between them, in a game Jeffrey P. referred to as "chicken." Ninham punched Vang in the chest as he pushed him back and forth.

Ninham then pinned Vang by his wrists against the parking ramp's concrete wall. While Vang squirmed to get out of Ninham’s grasp, Crapeau again punched Vang in the face. According to Crapeau, Vang was crying and screaming, "'Let me go.'"

With Ninham still holding Vang by his wrists, Crapeau grabbed Vang’s ankles. Ninham and Crapeau then began swinging Vang back and forth out over the parking ramp's concrete wall— a drop that measured nearly 45 feet to the ground. Vang was crying and screaming, begging Ninham and Crapeau not to drop him. While swinging Vang out over the wall, Crapeau let go of Vang’s feet and told Ninham to "[d]rop him." Ninham let go of Vang’s wrists, and in Crapeau’s words, Vang "just sailed out over the wall."

At approximately 8:00 p.m., bystander Steven Heraly was in his vehicle exiting the St. Vincent's Hospital parking ramp when he heard what sounded like a "bag of wet cement hitting the pavement." Vang landed on his back on the parking ramp’s paved exit lane, 12 feet from the base of the ramp.

Rescue personnel dispatched at 8:03 p.m. detected a faint pulse from Vang. Vang was transported to St. Vincent’s Hospital where physicians were unable to revive him.

An autopsy revealed that Vang suffered a blunt impact to his head and trunk and died from craniocerebral trauma due to a fall from height.

Ninham and the other four juveniles never checked on Vang’s condition and instead ran from the scene.

Investigation

The Green Bay Police Department was able to focus its investigation on the five juveniles after some of them, in particular Jeffrey P. and Amanda G., indicated to relatives and police that they knew who was responsible for Vang’s death.

In Jeffrey P.’s statement to police, Jeffrey P. described how Ninham stood for several seconds looking over the edge of the wall at Vang below. Ninham then looked at Jeffrey P. and said, "Don't say nothing. Better not say shit."

Sentencing

A jury convicted Ninham of first-degree intentional homicide.

Ninham was sentenced in 2000 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence was imposed on June 29, 2000.

Appeals

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld Ninham’s life-without-parole sentence.

Outcome

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld the life-without-parole sentence imposed on June 29, 2000.

Other details

While awaiting trial, Ninham threatened to kill a judge and to rape and kill friends who had talked to police about the crime. He also denied any involvement in the crime through his sentencing date.

Crapeau was also convicted and sentenced to life, but with the possibility of parole after serving 50 years. Ninham and the other juveniles were between ages 13 and 14 at the time of the offence.

Ninham suffered physical and mental abuse at home, and was regularly drinking alcohol by age 10. He never had a toothbrush until he was put into juvenile detention.

In a later assessment, when Ninham was 23, a clinical neuropsychologist concluded that Ninham "no longer suffered from the severe behavioral deficits that dominated his young teenage years and has grown into a thoughtful young man whose prognosis for successful re-entry into the community, and absence of recidivism, is very good."