Twins Will Be Facing Off as Murder-for-Hire Trial Opens

The last place anyone expected to see Sunny and Jeen Han--co-valedictorians of their high school graduating class--was in a courtroom as the main characters in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.

But the 23-year-old identical twins, whom police have dubbed “the good twin and the evil twin,” will be center stage today in Orange County Superior Court as the trial is expected to begin for Jeen Han and a pair of 17-year-olds, John Sayarth and Archie Bryant.

The three have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment. Their alleged target: Sunny Han, who is expected to be a key prosecution witness sometime next week.

But in an unusual twist, Sunny Han has become her sister’s biggest advocate since she was held at gunpoint and bound with duct tape in her Irvine apartment Nov. 6. On national talk shows and in other interviews, Sunny Han has repeatedly defended her sister, suggesting that her sibling was somehow duped.

“I know Sunny supports [Jeen] and I know [Jeen] wishes none of this ever happened,” said Deputy Public Defender Roger Alexander, who is Jeen Han’s attorney.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Moore, declined to discuss the case but Bryant’s attorney, Ernest L. Eady, said Sunny Han’s feelings are not likely to have an impact.

“I don’t think it makes any difference,” said Eady. “I don’t think the prosecution really cares that she’s saying she doesn’t believe her sister did this. The issues are the issues based on what the alleged crimes are.”

When the three were arrested nearly a year ago, Irvine police had said that Jeen Han had wanted her sister dead so she could assume her identity and escape a checkered past. But that widely publicized scenario is not expected to be presented by the prosecution during the two- to three-week trial.

At a preliminary hearing in March, Sunny Han testified she dialed 911 as the two teens forced their way into her apartment. She and roommate Helen Kim were then held at gunpoint and bound, blindfolded, gagged and placed in a bathtub moments before police arrived.

Neither woman was able to identify Sayarth as one of the attackers. But Sunny Han identified Bryant, who she said panicked after police arrived and begged her to tell authorities it was all part of a joke. He was arrested at the scene.

“We can’t say he wasn’t there,” Eady conceded Wednesday. “We all know he was there. He was involved in something he shouldn’t have been involved in. I just don’t think he is guilty of what he’s been charged with.”

Police Det. Victor Ray testified at the March hearing that Bryant told him that Jeen Han planned to personally kill her sister. Ray testified that the teenagers were instructed to secure the sister and then go outside to get Jeen Han to finish the job.

Police have stated that Jeen Han fled with Sayarth, and they were arrested trying to use Sunny Han’s credit card to buy a car in San Diego.

Alexander has said that violence was not planned when the defendants drove to Sunny Han’s apartment. He said they had planned to merely retrieve some of Jeen Han’s possessions, which he said her sister refused to return.

Several witnesses are expected to testify for the prosecution that they heard Jeen Han freely discuss plans to have her sister killed and had asked several people if they would help her.

“I believe in her innocence,” Alexander said. “But I feel like I have to prove her innocence. There are people who are going to say she made these statements and I can see people jumping to conclusions.”

Among the witnesses are a San Diego woman who Jeen Han was living with and the woman’s daughter who called police to say that a homicide was going to take place and that she knew who the involved parties were going to be.

Although specifics of the defense strategy have not been revealed, the defense attorneys said it will not resort to the defendants blaming each other.

Alexander described the case as “a sad situation.” He said the twins were victims of their parents’ bitter divorce and sent to live with relatives during the years they attended high school in San Diego County.

“When they’re together they either love each other or have these horrendous fights,” he said.

Their most serious falling out before Jeen’s arrest occurred in May 1996 when Sunny Han told police that her sister, who was temporarily staying with her, had disappeared with her 1995 BMW, some of her credit cards and other belongings. She was arrested.

The story has drawn international media attention and the trial will be broadcast live by the Court TV cable network. It will also be covered by several Korean-language newspapers.

“The case really isn’t as complex as the interest might make it seem,” said defense attorney Salvatore P. Ciulla, who represents Sayarth. “It’s basically a circumstantial case. I don’t think [the coverage] will help or hurt.”

Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore has placed restrictions on cameras inside and outside the courtroom. At the preliminary hearing at Municipal Court in Newport Beach, Sunny Han, accompanied by her “media spokesman,” was knocked to the ground by the media pack.

Jeen Han, who had appeared forlorn at the March hearing wearing a blue jail jumpsuit and shackles, had a different look for this week’s jury selection. She wore a fashionable cream-colored pantsuit and hairstyle and smiled when introduced to jurors.

The defendants face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.