Murder Trial Set to Begin Tuesday

Opening arguments are set to begin tomorrow morning in the trial of Thuy Van "Tony" Vo.

Vo, 32, of Philadelphia, stands accused of murder in the death of 31-year-old Southampton nail salon owner An-Hnan "Annie" Thi Huynh. 

Attorneys in the case spent Monday at the Bucks County Courthouse selecting a jury for the trial, which is expected by observers to last the entire week. The group of six men and six women were whittled down from a pool of more than 60 candidates.

Vo is set to stand trial in front of Judge Diane Gibbons on charges of criminal homicide, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

Prosecutors are expected to make the case that Vo killed Huynh, the mother of a school-aged son, over several thousand dollars he allegedly took from her bank account without permission.

Huynh was found dead in the bathroom of , the salon she owned and operated, on the morning of November 8, 2010.

Vo had a close personal relationship with Huynh, but in the weeks before the murder it had begun to dissolve, according to testimony from the .

Police said during the murder  they zeroed in on Vo because of his lack of reaction to news of Huynh's death.

Police claim in the days following Huynh's death Vo tried to kill himself by ingesting a half a bottle of a prescription antihistamine. He was treated at the hospital and then arrested on Friday, November 12, shortly after he was released.

Orignially, the trial was slated to begin this past summer, before first being delayed until October and then delayed again until today. Court documents attribute the delays to requests from both the prosecution and the defense.

Vo, who is being held without bail in county jail, will not be facing capital punishment, but could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

Stay with Upper Southampton Patch for continuing coverage of the Vo trial.