Chek Ngoun, 47, of Modesto, was denied parole during an Oct. 9 hearing before the Board of Parole Hearings held at the California Institute for Men state prison in Chino.

Deputy District Attorney Kirk Brennan attended the hearing by video on behalf of the People. 

On August 17, 1996, Ngoun and other members of the Modesto Hit Squad, a local group affiliated with the Crips criminal street gang, went to a party at the Mountain View Grange Hall on Crows Landing Road. A fight broke out between rival gang members and Ngoun shot and killed 18-year-old Kevin Frankie Martinez.

The following month, on September 7, 1996, Ngoun got into a fight with several other subjects in the front yard of a home on Longfellow Avenue in Modesto. Ngoun retrieved a gun and returned to the address where he shot and wounded three different victims.

Ngoun was convicted of murder with a gun use and gang enhancement in the first case and three counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon along with use of a weapon and infliction of great bodily injury enhancements in the second case. He was sentenced to serve 47 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Since being incarcerated, Ngoun has committed several serious rules violations including battery and a coordinated attack on another inmate with his fellow gang members.

Deputy District Attorney Brennan argued against Ngoun’s release based upon his history of rule violations while incarcerated and Ngoun’s risk to public safety if released. A 2018 psychologist report stated that Ngoun posed a moderate risk for future violence if released and that he needed to display a longer period of prosocial behaviors in order to conclude that his antisocial character aspects have fully resolved.

After deliberations, the Board denied Ngoun’s release on parole for a period of three years. The Board commended Ngoun on his progress in avoiding serious rules violations since 2009 and on his development of parole plans, but still found the unsuitability factors outweighed the mitigating factors and that Ngoun posed an unreasonable risk of danger to society if he were to be released. This was Ngoun’s second parole hearing. He was previously denied parole in 2019 for a period of three years. As a “youthful offender” at the time of the murder, he may continue to petition the Board of Parole Hearings for earlier hearings in as little as 18 months.