ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The lawyer for a woman accused of buying guns for a man who later ambushed firefighters at his burning home near Rochester, New York, isn't denying that she bought them.
Matthew Parrinello says Dawn Nguyen "definitely bought the guns." But he says she's not guilty of the charges against her -- and he asks whether prosecutors will "be able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt." He says it didn't happen "the way the public thinks it happened."
He spoke after a court hearing today in Rochester, where Nguyen pleaded not guilty to an indictment accusing her of three crimes -- including lying on a form while buying a rifle and shotgun, and transferring the guns to a known felon, William Spengler Jr.
In December, Spengler killed himself after fatally shooting two firefighters and wounding two others and a police officer. They'd been responding to a fire he had set at his home.
A prosecutor says the government plans to use a statement made by Nguyen on the day of the shooting in which she told police that she had bought the guns but that they were later stolen.
Three firefighters from the community were in court for today's hearing.
