A Virginia man will spend decades behind bars for fatally shooting his girlfriend before driving her to a hospital and claiming she killed herself, according to authorities.
Huy "Max" Nguyen, 47, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison over the slaying of 38-year-old Alison "Kate" Laporta, of Washington, D.C. following his conviction in September 2025 of murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Nguyen Initially Told Officers Laporta was Hit by a Stray Bullet, Then Claimed She Shot Herself
On April 17, 2024, Laporta was shot in her upper body, the Fairfax County Police Department said at the time. Nguyen took her to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, and she was later transferred to another hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
When officers spoke to Nguyen at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, he told them that he and Laporta were in a parking lot in nearby Annandale when a random bullet hit her, prosecutors said.
However, as they investigated, "detectives disproved that allegation." Investigators "determined Nguyen shot" his girlfriend inside a vehicle and drove her to the hospital. They found the firearm near his home in Lorton, around 20 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.
Nguyen then admitted the parking lot story was a lie and claimed Laporta tried to shoot him and then shot herself. His defense team even presented her medical records from two years before the shooting, when Laporta was allegedly suffering from a mental health crisis.
Witnesses Claimed Nguyen and Laporta Had Been Fighting Before the Shooting, He Made Threatening Statements
Prosecutors called men to the witness stand who were with the couple on the day Laporta was shot. The witnesses said Nguyen and Laporta had been fighting at a pool hall and that the suspect had made threatening statements. "The only way this argument ends is with a bullet," one witness recalled Nguyen as saying.
"I'm going to shoot this girl," Nguyen allegedly also said that day. Still, despite Nguyen's conviction and sentencing, Laporta's family sought a more stringent sentence for
"I think he should have gotten the full 40 and plus some," said Laporta's daughter, Katlin Lasky, referencing the maximum of 40 years the defendant faced.
"[He] murdered my daughter," said Tim Pounsberry, Laporta's father, expressing how the murder brought "absolute destruction" to the family.
