County Sullenly Agrees to Keep Ng Trial : Courts: Supervisors who wanted costly mass-murder case moved elsewhere reluctantly accept deal that holds state and Calaveras County responsible for its expenses.

The Board of Supervisors has reluctantly signed off on an agreement that holds the state and a Northern California county responsible for the cost of trying accused serial killer Charles Ng, whose trial was moved here before Orange County’s Dec. 6 bankruptcy.

Supervisors had repeatedly said cash-strapped Orange County should be relieved of the massive and costly trial, which was transferred from rural Calaveras County last year because of extensive pretrial publicity.

But Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald refused to transfer the case back to Northern California last week after negotiations between Orange County, the state and Calaveras County led to a special financing agreement.

“This is the most outrageous thing, for the county to have to endure this nonsense, even in good times,” Supervisor Roger R. Stanton said during a marathon board meeting that lasted from Tuesday night until early Wednesday.

The supervisors said they were reluctantly approving the agreement because they felt they had no other choice. They asked for monthly updates on trial expenses.

Under the agreement, the state and Calaveras County pay for all trial-related expenses, from guarding Ng to paying the travel expenses of witnesses to hiring additional staff. The state will initially place $400,000 in a trust fund within the county auditor-controller’s office, to be drawn upon to pay “reasonable and necessary” trial expenses as they arise.

Ron T. Coley, a county criminal justice analyst, assured supervisors that the county will not have to pay any out-of-pocket expenses.

Without the special agreement, Orange County would have been required to pick up the future tab for the case--which has already cost $4.1 million and threatens to cost millions more--and then wait for state reimbursement. But county officials, including those from the public defender’s office who have been appointed to represent Ng, said they could not begin paying for the case because of the bankruptcy.

The public defender’s office has filed an appeal seeking to overturn the judge’s decision to keep the case in the county.

Ng, 33, is accused of mutilating and killing 12 people on a remote ranch in 1984 and 1985 and faces a possible death sentence if convicted. He was arrested in Canada in 1985, but was not extradited until 1991.