Jury Finds Twin Guilty of Plotting to Kill Sister

Jeen Han choked back tears Thursday as an Orange County Superior Court jury pronounced her guilty of conspiring with two teenagers to kill her identical twin sister in a case that has received worldwide attention.

Han, 23, could be sentenced to life in prison along with cohorts Archie Bryant, 17, and John Sayarath, 16. The trio were found guilty on all charges--the most serious being two counts of conspiracy to commit murder--for the botched Nov. 6, 1996, attack on Sunny Han and her roommate Helen Kim, who were bound, gagged and blindfolded in their Irvine apartment, moments before police burst in to rescue them.

The jury of six men and six women, who deliberated for 10 hours over three days, sat expressionless, rarely looking at the defendants, as the verdict was read. Afterward, jurors avoided talking to the media or any of the attorneys. They were taken out a back door to avoid the throngs of reporters and escorted from the courthouse in a county van with tinted windows.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Moore, who prosecuted the case, said he believes the jury delivered the “right verdict and they should feel comfortable.”

“It was a vicious, violent crime,” Moore said.

Jeen Han’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Roger Alexander, said he was stunned by the verdict and does not believe the prosecution proved its conspiracy theory.

“I’m shocked,” Alexander said as he left the courtroom. “I didn’t see any way they could convict her of conspiracy to commit murder.”

Alexander partly blamed himself for the verdict, saying it might have made a difference if his client had testified on her own behalf.

“They needed to hear Jeen tell her side of the story,” he said. Jeen Han wept throughout the reading of the verdict, which took 20 minutes and was preceded by several minutes of silence as the judge checked each of the many jury forms.

Each of the three defendants was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree burglary and two counts of false imprisonment by violence. The jury also found them guilty of using a firearm during the assault. Jeen Han was additionally convicted of second-degree burglary for trying to buy a car without intending to pay for it.

Sayarath’s attorney, Salvatore P. Ciulla, said he believes his client never planned to kill anyone and was despondent over the verdict.

“He’s crying right now,” Ciulla said. “The last thing he said to me as I left his cell was, ‘Please call my mom.’ ”

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Alexander said his client feels enormously guilty because two teenagers may spend the rest of their lives in prison as a result of their involvement with her. They had only met Jeen Han a day before the crimes.

“She feels responsible for everybody,” Alexander said. “She knows this was stupid.”

The bizarre case was carried live on Court TV and made headlines overseas, especially among the Asian media, which were captivated by the sometimes sordid tale that had all the makings of a television movie--and may very well make it to the small screen, since it also captured the attention of Hollywood producers.

Early on, police dubbed it the case of the “good twin vs. the evil twin,” and the trial saw testimony about the stormy relationship between the sometimes rival sisters, who were abandoned by their mother and forced to live with relatives.

Jeen Han ran afoul of the law after being arrested for using her sister’s credit cards and taking her sister’s car. That led to a feud that the prosecution said resulted in the failed murder plot.

At one point, the case appeared headed for a mistrial when Sunny Han took an excess of sleeping pills and nearly collapsed in the courtroom before being rushed to an emergency room for treatment.

“I think, in the end, that incident showed the continued victimization of [Sunny Han],” Moore said Thursday of the overdose. “She still has to deal with it.”

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Some were concerned that the drama surrounding the trial itself would derail the proceedings.

The case hinged on whether the jury believed the defendants had indeed planned to kill anyone that day. The three had pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but during the trial, lesser counts--such as burglary and false imprisonment--were all but conceded by the defense.

The prosecution painted Jeen Han as a cold and calculating schemer who wanted her twin dead. Witnesses testified that in the days before the attack, Jeen Han asked several people if they would help her kill her sister. The prosecutor said that she finally found two willing accomplices in Bryant and Sayarath.

But defense attorneys contended that there was never a murder plot hatched by the trio. They said the three defendants had gone to Sunny Han’s apartment to retrieve some of Jeen Han’s belongings that the sister had refused to return.

The loaded gun, duct tape and twine they brought along were only to protect them in the event that any Asian gang members were inside the apartment, the defense said.

The two male assailants allegedly posed as magazine salesmen before bursting into the apartment. Sunny Han, who was in her bedroom at the time, heard the scuffling and used her cellular telephone to call 911.

Bryant was caught inside the apartment and arrested at the scene while Jeen Han and Sayarath fled and were arrested later that day trying to rent a car in San Diego.

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Times correspondents Hope Hamashige and Jeff Kass contributed to this story.