Judge Removed From Ng Murder Trial Over Remarks

An appeals court Friday ordered the removal of a veteran Orange County Superior Court judge from the long-delayed mass-murder trial of Charles Ng, in part because of “derogatory” remarks the judge made in excluding a defense attorney from the case.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana also cited Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald’s “unusual and inappropriate desire to keep the case.”

Court officials were ordered to assign a new judge to hear Ng’s capital trial, and to reappoint the Orange County public defender’s office to represent the defendant.

Through a spokesman, Fitzgerald declined to comment, saying he could not discuss a pending case.

Ng is accused of torturing and killing a dozen people in 1984 and 1985 at a hideaway in the Sierra Nevada foothills. One victim, Scott Stapley, was originally from Garden Grove.

The defendant was arrested in 1985 in Canada, where he fought extradition for six years until Canada’s Supreme Court sent him back to California. An alleged accomplice, Leonard Lake, 39, killed himself with cyanide after his capture.

Ng, who has pleaded not guilty, could face the death penalty if he is convicted.

His trial was moved to Orange County in 1994 on grounds that media reports made a fair trial impossible in Calaveras County, where many of the victims lived.

The case hit further delays in August when Fitzgerald removed Orange County Deputy Public Defender William G. Kelley from the case--at Ng’s request.

One week after the unusual hearing, Ng changed his mind. But the judge refused to change his ruling, prompting the appeal backed by state prosecutors and the public defender’s office.

In the 15-page ruling Friday, the appeals court said it found no reason to remove the public defender’s office from the case.

“The [trial] court, having abused its discretion by relieving appointed counsel, compounded its error by refusing to reinstate the public defender when a motion to do so was made,” according to the opinion.

The justices also quoted what Fitzgerald told Ng when he removed Kelley, including: “He doesn’t have the cushy job any longer of just representing you, and he has to go back to work representing all the other clients he had before,” the judge said.

Assistant Orange County Public Defender Thomas Havlena said the office was pleased with the ruling and with the chance to resume work on the case.

“When you represent a client over a long period of time, you take an interest in doing the best job you can,” he said. “All the time that has been spent on this case, lawyers take pride in their work and they believe they can present a competent, well-thought-out defense. They want that opportunity.”

Havlena said he was not sure how long it would take the case to reach trial, but that the ruling will help speed things up.

“There will be less delay retaining the lawyers who have already put in hundreds and hundreds of hours on the case,” he said.

Fitzgerald recently retired but is still hearing criminal cases on assignment.