Delayed Ng Serial-Murder Case Hits Another Legal Snag

The long-delayed serial-murder case of Charles Ng hit new delays Friday when a Superior Court judge halted proceedings while an appellate court decides who will represent Ng.

Ng’s current lawyer said it could take five to seven months to decide whether Ng will be represented at trial by the county public defender’s office or by private attorneys assigned by Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald last month removed the public defender at Ng’s request and named private attorneys Gary Pohlson and George Peters to handle the capital case. A week later, Ng said he had reconsidered, but Fitzgerald refused to put the public defender back on the case even though the new lawyers approved.

Ng appealed the decision and the California Supreme Court ordered that the matter be heard at the state Court of Appeal in Santa Ana. A session in the appeals court is scheduled Nov. 18 but delays are likely, said Richard L. Schwartzberg, named to represent Ng in the appeal.

Fitzgerald’s decision to put the Ng proceedings on hold likely means months of new delays in an 11-year-old case that already has followed a tortuous road. The case was moved from Calaveras County in Northern California last year after Ng’s previous defense lawyers argued he could not receive a fair trial in the rural area where so many of the victims had lived.

Authorities allege Ng and an accomplice killed 12 people at a ranch in the Sierra foothills in 1984 and 1985. One victim, Scott Stapley, was originally from Garden Grove.

Ng was arrested in Canada in 1985 and extradited in 1991. The alleged accomplice, 39-year-old Leonard Lake, killed himself with cyanide after his capture. Ng, who has pleaded innocent, could face the death penalty if he is convicted.