4 Teens Plead Not Guilty in Honor Student’s Death

SANTA ANA — Four teen-agers accused in the New Year’s Eve killing of honor student Stuart A. Tay pleaded not guilty in Orange County Superior Court Monday.

Abraham Acosta, 16, Robert Chien-nan Chan, 18, Mun Bong Kang, 17, and Kirn Young Kim, 17--all students at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton--face charges of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait. All are being tried as adults and could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Acosta and Chan also are charged with committing murder for financial gain because money was taken from the victim’s wallet. Police allege that they beat Tay with baseball bats and a sledgehammer before pouring alcohol down his throat and burying him in Acosta’s Buena Park back yard. Chan, whom the others have identified as the mastermind of the plot--is the only one eligible for the death penalty because of his age.

At Monday’s hearing, the case was scheduled for a trial-setting conference on April 16 and assigned to Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary after two other judges were rejected by defense attorneys. Also Monday, Judge Hugh Michael Brenner ordered Chan to provide prosecutors with a blood sample despite the objections of his attorney, Marshall M. Schulman.

Schulman also said he would later file a motion asking the court to dismiss charges because the grand jury that brought the indictment included no Asian-Americans. Three of the defendants, as well as the victim, are Asian-Americans.

Family members of all four defendants attended the hearing. Kim’s aunt--who unsuccessfully pleaded with a judge last month to let Kim remain in the juvenile justice system, where sentences are lighter--held her face in her hands, praying and crying, during the proceedings.