Judge Says Ng Can’t Be His Own Attorney

An Orange County judge on Tuesday denied a request by Charles Ng, suspected of a dozen slayings in Northern California, to act as his own attorney.

Ng, 37, had told Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan that he didn’t trust his appointed public defenders and wanted to represent himself against charges of serial killings in 1985. The 12 bodies were burned and buried in a mass grave in Calaveras County.

But Ryan said he thought Ng’s request was a ruse, and that Ng was angling to have another public defender, Michael Burt of San Francisco, appointed to the case.

Ng has named Burt as his preferred attorney. But an attempt to bring Burt here failed last month when he couldn’t promise to be ready for trial on Sept. 1.

The case has wound its way through courtrooms for more than a decade since police linked Ng to the mass grave discovered in Wilseyville. The Northern California resident and former Marine fled to Canada and fought extradition for six years before he was brought to Calaveras County to stand trial. The case was moved to Orange County in 1994 to afford the high-profile defendant a fair trial.

Ng has pushed to have the Sept. 1 trial date postponed, and Ryan this week characterized the defendant’s attempt to oust public defenders William Kelley and James Merwin as another delay tactic. The judge also ruled this week that Ng is mentally competent to stand trial.