Judge Takes More Time to Convene Ng Jury Pool

Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan Friday delayed the start of the Charles Ng murder trial by two weeks to allow more time to convene a jury pool, a court official said.

The oft-delayed trial was to have started Sept. 1, but Ryan pushed it back to Sept. 14. He also rejected a request by Ng to delay the trial six months.

Prosecutors charge that Ng, 37, and Leonard Lake tortured and killed at least 12 people in the mid-1980s on Lake’s property in Calaveras County in the Sierra foothills. The murders were unknown until Lake was taken into custody on an unrelated charge, confessed and killed himself, police have said.

Ng fled to Canada, where he was captured. But he fought a six-year extradition battle before he was returned to California in 1991.

The case was moved to Orange County in 1994 because of extensive publicity in Calaveras County. Since then, Ng has won repeated delays as judges and attorneys were disqualified.