2 men denied bail over killing of Chinese students
Source: Agencies |
May 24, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO men charged with the murders of two students from China made a brief court appearance in Los Angeles on Tuesday with a crowd of supporters shouting messages of love.
The arraignments of Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, were continued for a month to allow lawyers time to prepare.
The judge denied bail and set June 25 for the next hearing.
He refused to allow the media to photograph them. Their lawyers said there were unresolved identification issues. The decision brought whoops of glee from spectators who were warned to stop demonstrating their feelings.
"Yes!" they shouted at the announcement. And when the hearing ended, members of the mostly female crowd called out: "I love you, brother."
Outside court, they refused to talk to reporters.
The men were arrested last Friday for the April 11 killing of 23-year-old University of Southern California graduate students Qu Ming, of northeast China's Jilin Province, and Wu Ying, of the central Hunan Province, as they sat in a car 1.6 kilometers from the campus.
The men answered: "Yes sir," when Superior Court Judge Upinder Kalra asked if they understood the charges against them and waived the requirement for a speedy hearing. Their cases were assigned to the public defender's office.
They were also charged with attempted murder in unrelated shootings of three people at parties in south Los Angeles a few months earlier.
Authorities believe the April killings occurred during a robbery, which means that Barnes and Bolden are eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Police said shell casings tied the suspects to the shooting of the Chinese students and the other attacks.
The parents of the Chinese students have filed a lawsuit accusing USC of misrepresenting security at the campus, where nearly a fifth of the 38,000 students are from overseas, 2,500 from China.
USC lawyer Debra Wong Yang said the university was deeply saddened by the deaths but found the lawsuit baseless.
The arraignments of Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, were continued for a month to allow lawyers time to prepare.
The judge denied bail and set June 25 for the next hearing.
He refused to allow the media to photograph them. Their lawyers said there were unresolved identification issues. The decision brought whoops of glee from spectators who were warned to stop demonstrating their feelings.
"Yes!" they shouted at the announcement. And when the hearing ended, members of the mostly female crowd called out: "I love you, brother."
Outside court, they refused to talk to reporters.
The men were arrested last Friday for the April 11 killing of 23-year-old University of Southern California graduate students Qu Ming, of northeast China's Jilin Province, and Wu Ying, of the central Hunan Province, as they sat in a car 1.6 kilometers from the campus.
The men answered: "Yes sir," when Superior Court Judge Upinder Kalra asked if they understood the charges against them and waived the requirement for a speedy hearing. Their cases were assigned to the public defender's office.
They were also charged with attempted murder in unrelated shootings of three people at parties in south Los Angeles a few months earlier.
Authorities believe the April killings occurred during a robbery, which means that Barnes and Bolden are eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Police said shell casings tied the suspects to the shooting of the Chinese students and the other attacks.
The parents of the Chinese students have filed a lawsuit accusing USC of misrepresenting security at the campus, where nearly a fifth of the 38,000 students are from overseas, 2,500 from China.
USC lawyer Debra Wong Yang said the university was deeply saddened by the deaths but found the lawsuit baseless.
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