The Region - News from Sept. 24, 1987

Attorney Joseph Walter Shambaugh, 31, was convicted on federal charges of hatching a plot to kill his father and a former business associate. The federal court jury rejected a defense argument that he was not legally responsible for formulating the murder plot because of a brain dysfunction stemming from hyperactivity. The jury convicted Shambaugh on six counts in connection with a conspiracy to kill his father, retired Orange County lawyer Walter F. Shambaugh, and Steven Szu Hong Sung, with whom he was involved in several business deals. Prosecutors said neither murder was carried out because Shambaugh and a co-defendant, who has since died, hired an individual who told authorities of the plan. During trial, defense lawyer A. Brent Carruth argued that Shambaugh is subject to “dysfunction” when he fails to take medicine to control complications arising from the common childhood disorder of hyperactivity.