Appeals Court Denies Tay Case Defense Motion

An appellate court on Monday rejected a motion to prohibit all Orange County Superior Court judges from ruling on a request to dismiss the indictments in the Stuart A. Tay murder case.

The 4th District Court of Appeal denied a writ brought by defense attorneys who wanted the indictments dismissed on the grounds that there were too few Asian Americans and other minorities on the Orange County Grand Jury during the past few years.

The four defendants in the Tay slaying, three of whom are Asian Americans, were indicted by the 1992-93 grand jury.

Tay, an Orange resident and a senior at Foothill High School, was bludgeoned to death last New Year’s Eve and then buried in a shallow grave behind a Buena Park home, prosecutors said.

Two weeks ago, Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard denied a similar request by defense attorneys who noted that Superior Court judges are involved in approving each year’s final grand jury panel. Millard said the request was untimely and lacked a legal basis.