Palisades Postal Worker Arrested in Pregerson Hit-and-Run Case

Marguerite Vuong Charged as Driver in Fatal Hit-and-Run, Husband Accused of Cover-up; Both Plead Not Guilty

A Palms couple pleaded not guilty Friday, May 30 to charges stemming from the hit-and-run crash that killed Palisadian David Pregerson.

Speaking through a Vietnamese interpreter, Marguerite Dao Vuong, 66, a 28-year employee of the Pacific Palisades post office pleaded not guilty to one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Her husband, Michael Vuong, 66, who was arrested May 1 for felony vehicular manslaughter, was instead charged with one count of felony accessory to hit-and-run causing death. He too pleaded not guilty through a Vietnamese interpreter.

Pregerson, 23 and a budding filmmaker and UCLA graduate, was struck by a car allegedly driven by Marguerite Vuong in the 600 block of Chautauqua Blvd. at about 3 a.m. on Dec. 27, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Pregerson succumbed to his injuries four days later. Michael Vuong is accused of trying to help his wife avoid prosecution.

“There’s a lot of discovery to go through,” Anthony Salerno, the attorney representing Michael Vuong, told the Palisadian-Post after the arraignment. “I don’t want to pre-judge anything. There was no abuse of alcohol as far as the driver goes. We’re going to look at all the discovery. There’s a lot of surveillance tape to go through.”

Salerno said that he has been in front of Pregerson’s father Judge Dean Pregerson before and that he has “the utmost respect” for U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harry Pregerson, who is David’s grandfather.

“He’s a giant,” Salerno said of Harry Pregerson. “As a human being, I feel really bad.”

Attorney David M. Murphy is representing Marguerite Vuong and told the Post following the arraignment that it is very early in the case with a lot of discovery to go through.

The Vuongs are due back at the Airport Courthouse on July 11, when a date should be scheduled for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require them to stand trial. If Marguerite is convicted as charged, she faces four years in state prison. Michael faces up to three years in county jail.

Pregerson’s family and the Los Angeles City Council had offered a combined $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.

On May 2, the Post asked Marguerite Vuong for comment about her husband’s arrest and she said, “I think they’re wrong. He wasn’t there when it happened.”