Justice Comes Slowly for Families of Ng’s Victims

I began to hear from some of the families victimized by the monster Charles Ng--so many families, so many--late in his murder trial, in a case that spanned 14 years.

We corresponded while they waited.

Justice could no longer be swift, but justice could still occur.

If only the jury did its duty. If only there were no last-second surprises, no chance of Ng talking his way out of this, or getting off on a technicality.

I couldn’t imagine what these families had been through. Twelve deaths. Physical and psychological torture. Terrifying details. Graphic evidence. Men killed, women killed, children.

Ng sat there in Orange County Superior Court, called to answer for his and the late Leonard Lake’s atrocities at long last, looking to somehow escape the grim reaper, Lake already a suicide, he and Ng having themselves been the grimmest reapers.

Ghosts were watching over his shoulder.

Along with their families.

Waiting.

*

I have one here from Jan. 30.

“We are Dwight and Lola Stapley,” I read that day, already feeling that I knew these people, felt the pain of these people, “parents of Scott Stapley--one of Charles Ng’s 12 victims.

“Ng just confessed to ‘helping Leonard bury Scott.’ When asked by his attorney if he knew Robin Scott Stapley, he replied rapidly, ‘No, I didn’t know Scott.’

“This is a lie.

“Only those who had been introduced to Scott would know that his name was Scott--not Robin, or Robin Scott, both of which he disliked intensely, but ‘Scott.’

“We are totally convinced that Ng murdered our son. The manner in which Scott met his death is exactly what Ng--a coldblooded, sadistic, amoral killer--would choose.

“Our hearts are torn right out of us, when we think of the horrible torture Scott must have endured before Ng fired the final, fatal shot.

“Ng must have wounded Scott first, incapacitating him, then taunted and tortured him. Ng was cruel and sadistic to his female victims, so we can only imagine the torture his male victims were subjected to.

“We scream internally, in the worst kind of agony, every time Scott’s name is mentioned in court and we are reminded of what happened to our youngest son.

“To see Ng on the witness stand, blatantly lying, as his attorney asks each question, is torture for us.

“His answers were very smooth--a little too smooth, leading us to believe that they had been extensively rehearsed. Ng’s answers were often given almost prior to the end of his attorney’s question. It was almost as if Ng knew what the question would be and how it had been agreed between them what his answer would be.

“When [the prosecuting attorney] questioned Ng, he became confused, having to remember which lies he had told, and when.

“Had he been telling the truth, he could have answered with the same smoothness as during his own attorney’s examination.”

As I read this, I was reminded of having written that simply looking at Ng’s face made my flesh crawl.

And I was someone whose family was not torn apart, someone whose life was not directly affected by Charles Ng or Leonard Lake, the men responsible for shooting 26-year-old Scott Stapley, for murdering the Dubs family, and Lonnie Bond and Brenda O’Connor and their son, and Kathleen Allen, and Paul Cosner, and Michael Carroll, and Clifford Peranteau and Jeffrey Gerald.

“Our skin crawls too,” wrote Dwight and Lola Stapley.

“Twelve people met their death at the hands of Ng and Lake. Lake is rotting in hell. We hope to see Ng rotting in the same hell, in an expeditious manner.”

*

Nearly one month later--after so many years, so many tears--Charles Ng was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 12 murder counts he faced.

I called Lola Stapley, 70, of Garden Grove.

“Justice wasn’t swift,” I said.

“No, sometimes justice really is like molasses in January,” she replied.

“I know, it’s not funny.”

“But you HAVE to laugh about it,” Lola said. “Because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”

The Stapleys are so pleased with the verdict. They couldn’t be sure what a jury would do, behind doors, searching for reasonable doubt. But nine men and three women did avenge 11 of 12 people, 11 of 12 no longer alive, and those who remember them.

Charles Ng will be sentenced soon.

I ask Lola Stapley if she has seen enough. “No,” she says. “I’ll be there that day, to put my two cents in.”

Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to him at Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com