Tay Case Prosecution Witness Admits to Lying : Trial: Reversing earlier testimony, the Fullerton man says his friend did strike the honors student with a bat.

A key prosecution witness testified Monday that he initially lied to authorities about the 1992 slaying of honors student Stuart A. Tay.

Shortly after his arrest, Charles Bae Choe, 18, of Fullerton, told police that teen-ager Mun Bong Kang did not participate in the New Year’s Eve beating. On Monday, Choe told an Orange County Superior Court jury that while Kang was not the main assailant, he struck Tay with a bat near the end of the attack.

Choe told jurors Monday he lied to protect Kang, his friend of more than two years, but changed his story because it was wrong to lie.

“Truth is the best policy, that’s what I was brought up with, that’s my nature,” Choe told the jury. “I thought it was my obligation, my responsibility” to tell the truth, he later added.

Choe has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for his role in the slaying and is the first witness to testify against his boyhood friend, Robert Chan, 19, of Fullerton, who faces life in prison if convicted of masterminding the murder.

Defense attorney Marshall M. Schulman, who is representing Chan, spent most of the day hammering Choe’s credibility. Choe has admitted cheating on his SAT test, has admitted pulling a knife during a dispute with a student, and said he could not recall--but did not deny--reports that he once bragged to a female student about using the same knife to kill someone.

Choe said he has never killed anyone and was probably trying to impress the woman.

Schulman then led Choe through some of the details of the killing, peppering him with the question: “And is that part of your nature, to do something like that?” Choe repeatedly answered “No.”

Three others charged in the case, Abraham Acosta, 17, of Buena Park, Kang, 19, of Fullerton, and Kirn Young Kim, 18, also of Fullerton, will go on trial after Chan’s case concludes.

The young men are accused of luring Tay to his death because they believed he was going to double-cross them in a planned robbery. Tay, 17, of Orange, had lied to the youths about his name, age and hometown, and when Chan discovered the deceptions, he decided to kill him, prosecutors allege.

Tay was beaten with bats and a sledgehammer before rubbing alcohol was poured down his throat. Duct tape was used to shut his nose and mouth and he later died from choking on his vomit, prosecutors said.

As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, Choe was treated as a juvenile and sentenced to 25 years to life in the California Youth Authority. He is expected to be released in about eight years, when he turns 25.

Choe contends he played no role in the fatal beating but helped the others, including laying out the sheets that Tay’s lifeless body was rolled up in. He also admitted helping to carry the body to its shallow gave in Acosta’s back yard.

The grave was too small, however, and Tay’s legs had to be folded to make the body fit, Choe said, adding that he then helped toss dirt on top of the grave.