Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
I swear this case will never go to trial Ng will die of old age first,
in case you don't remember this is the SK who has done everything he can
to keep from going to trial.
In yet another twist in the legal saga surrounding accused serial killer
Charles Ng, attorneys representing the former Marine go to court today
to try to prove themselves wrong.
The latest chapter in the case--expected to be one of the longest and
costliest in California history--centers on whether Ng is mentally
competent to stand trial for a dozen killings committed in 1984 and
1985 in Calaveras County.
Ng's court-appointed attorneys acknowledge their position is nothing
less than "schizophrenic" in nature.
Deputy public defenders William Kelley and James Merwin will be arguing
that Ng is not competent to stand trial. The attorneys also want access
to sealed court records to be used in an upcoming hearing on Ng's mental
state.
The same attorneys are then prepared to use this argument against their
own motion: Their client objects to being ruled mentally incompetent and
the request to unseal court records would violate attorney-client
confidentiality.
"Counsel regret the schizophrenic nature of this pair of pleadings, but
offer them anyway because they feel they must in order to adequately
represent defendant's mutually inconsistent--but equally
important--interests," Kelley stated in a pair of motions filed recently
in Orange County Superior Court.
The attorneys complain that they find themselves in this "dilemma"
because of Judge John J. Ryan's refusal to appoint Ng's attorney of
choice to represent him. The attorneys said they may be faced with
testifying against their own client during the competency hearing--a
move that they consider to pose a serious conflict of interest. Ng
claims to have a mental illness that prevents him from putting his
trust and confidence in his current attorneys. He claims his problems
with his current and former defense attorneys are "driven by their
incompetence and not his mental disorder," according to legal
documents.
* * *
Ng's attorneys contend that their client has an "irrational obsession"
with having his original defense attorney, San Francisco Deputy Public
Defender Michael Burt, reappointed to the case.
"This obsession has prevented defendant from cooperating with his
appointed counsel," Kelley states in court records. ". . . Facing trial
for his life, all defendant can think about is his desire to be reunited
with Mr. Burt."
Ng has fought for years to have Burt appointed to the case. And at one
point, he demanded to represent himself. This has led to numerous delays
in a case that began shortly after Ng's 1985 arrest in Canada. He fought
extradition for six years until Canada's Supreme Court sent him back to
California.
Ryan last fall appointed Burt to join Kelley and Merwin in defending Ng,
but Burt has said he considers such a teaming an "unworkable situation."
Kelley has said that a competency trial would not be needed if he were
replaced by Burt. But Ryan has said that such a hearing must take place
regardless of who represents Ng at his criminal trial. According to
defense legal briefs, Ng believes the competency trial that is being
sought by his current attorneys is proof that they are "deliberately
refusing to provide him legally adequate assistance."
Legal experts said Thursday that Ng's attorneys appear to have had
little choice but to proceed in this manner. "They are doing what they
should do," said Marguerite Downing, chair of the criminal law section
executive committee of the State Bar of California.
"People don't realize we are representing our client and sometimes
they want things that aren't in their best interests," said Downing, a
deputy public defender in Los Angeles County.
Robert Pugsley, professor of criminal law at Southwestern University
School of Law in Los Angeles said that "while on the surface [the
dueling motions] are obviously totally inconsistent, each one
represents a position that Mr. Ng quite recently voiced to the court."
The criminal proceedings in the case were suspended last month by
Ryan so that the trial to determine Ng's competency could be held first.
The case was moved to Orange County in 1994 because of widespread
publicity in Calaveras County, where most of the victims lived.
--
Kathy E
"I can only please one person a day, today is NOT your day, and tomorrow
isn't looking too good for you either"
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