Judge: Trial Date for Ng ‘Nonnegotiable’

Saying he has been “as patient as a judge can be,” a Superior Court judge on Friday refused to further postpone the long-awaited trial of accused serial killer Charles Ng.

Judge John J. Ryan told Ng’s attorneys that the trial’s September starting date is “nonnegotiable.”

The judge’s decision means that Ng, accused of a dozen murders in 1984 and 1985, will have to do without the services of the attorney he has fought for six years to have reassigned to the case.

That attorney, San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Michael Burt, is the only lawyer Ng has cooperated with, but Burt insists that he would need more time to prepare for Ng’s trial.

“I’m not going to play that game,” the judge told Burt. “You ought not to accept this appointment unless you can be ready in September.”

Burt was Ng’s original attorney and is still representing the former Marine on a murder charge in San Francisco. Ryan appointed Burt to the existing defense team last October, but Burt has since insisted that he replace Orange County Deputy Public Defender William Kelley as lead attorney because of Ng’s refusal to work with Kelley.

Ryan reminded Burt that he was appointed to the team subject to reaching a financial agreement with court officials. The judge also noted that the case had already been moved back to September to accommodate Burt and would not be delayed again.

Burt didn’t pursue the matter further after it became clear that Ryan would not grant him additional time to prepare.

Meanwhile, Kelley is seeking to have his client declared incompetent to stand trial because of his “obsession” with having Burt defend him. The defense attorney has also made clear that he wants to be relieved of the case, because his client refuses to cooperate with him.

“It’s very difficult to speak for Mr. Ng, since he doesn’t talk to me,” Kelley said at one point Friday.

Kelley was put in the awkward position of having to argue against himself Friday as he represented his viewpoint and the opposite stand being taken by his uncooperative client.

In asking Ryan to release some previously sealed court documents, Kelley said, “I welcome the release of those documents, but at the same time I object to the release of those documents.”

In hopes that it would add support to his contention that Ng has an “irrational obsession” with Burt, Kelley wants mental health experts to review transcripts from closed hearings.

Ryan granted Kelley’s request, and scheduled a competency hearing for April 20.

Ng was arrested in Canada in 1985 in connection with a string of slayings in Northern California, but he waged a six-year legal battle against extradition until Canada’s Supreme Court sent him back to California. Since 1991, Ng has filed numerous motions against his attorneys and at one point demanded to represent himself.

Garden Grove residents Dwight and Lola Stapley, whose son Scott is one of Ng’s alleged victims, were in court Friday. After 13 years of legal delays in the case, they refused to allow themselves to feel too hopeful that the trial will start this fall.

“I’m optimistically pessimistic,” Lola Stapley said. “Ng is still on the floor kicking and screaming that he wants Michael Burt.”