The brother of a man accused of killing five people in San Francisco’s Ingleside neighborhood in March pleaded guilty Tuesday to an unrelated drug charge.
Brian Luc, 32, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with the intent to sell, district attorney’s office spokesman Alex Bastian said.
Luc was taken into custody the same day that police arrested his brother, Binh Luc, 35, on suspicion of killing three women and two men at a home at 16 Howth St. near City College of San Francisco on March 23.
Police found Brian Luc on March 25 with about 28 grams of powder cocaine and two rounds of ammunition when they served a search warrant at a house where the Luc brothers lived together on Hayes Street.
Brian Luc was arrested at the home while Binh Luc was taken into custody at a separate location in San Mateo County, according to police.
Prosecutors had alleged that Brian Luc intended to sell the cocaine, but his attorney, Brendan Conroy, argued that police did not find other drug paraphernalia at the home.
A judge agreed at the end of Luc’s preliminary hearing on April 19 to reduce the cocaine charge to simple possession rather than possession with the intent to sell, but prosecutors added the intent to sell allegation back onto the charges as the case headed to trial.
Luc agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to that charge in exchange for prosecutors dropping a charge of possession of ammunition as a convicted felon since he was convicted last August of DUI and discharging a firearm.
He will return to court on June 19 for sentencing.
Prosecutors have indicated that they intend to use Brian Luc as a witness in the case against his brother, who is accused of killing Wan Yi Xu, 62; Chia Huei Chu, 30; Ying Xue Lei, 37; Hua Shun Lei, 65; and Vincent Lei, 32.
Police and prosecutors have not yet released a possible motive for the killings and are still seeking two weapons believed to be used in the murders: a blunt weapon and an edged one.
Binh Luc is awaiting a preliminary hearing in the case and remains in custody in lieu of $25 million bail.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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