Opinion ID: 3178581
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Double Homicides

Text: Defendant Jin Cheng Lin challenges his conviction for murder, burglary and attempted robbery arising from events leading to the deaths of Cho Man Ng and her brother Sek Man Ng. Defendant knew both victims and had previously been romantically involved with Cho. Initially, defendant was not a suspect in the murders, but during the course of their investigation, detectives grew suspicious of his role in the crimes after they identified various inconsistencies in his statements to the police. After several hours of questioning across three days, and after having - 2 - - 3 - No. 14 implicated two others in the crimes, defendant confessed to brutally killing Cho and Sek. At the time of their deaths, Cho was 21 years old and worked at a telephone store, and Sek was 18 and a college student. Their parents had moved to Hong Kong and Cho and Sek lived together in an apartment in Queens. Defendant was two years older than Cho and they started dating when they were teenagers. At some point, Cho also dated Kevin Lee, who knew defendant from work. Cho and Lee eventually broke up, but approximately a year before her murder she restarted her relationship with Lee and broke up with defendant. On the day of the murders, May 12, 2005, Sek was home while Cho was out with Lee. At approximately 9:00 p.m., Lee drove Cho to her apartment. Once back at his own home, Lee called Cho several times until she finally answered the telephone at approximately 9:25 p.m. According to Lee, Cho sounded weak and told him she was dizzy and that someone was in the house. He did not call 911, but immediately went to Cho's apartment. At about 9:30 p.m., while at work, Wailap Tsang received a call from Cho, and he also heard her say that someone was in her apartment. She told him that there was a lot of blood and asked him to call 911. Tsang drove to Cho's apartment instead. When Lee arrived, he entered through the open, outside door and went to Cho's second floor apartment, and also found that door open. He could see a light from Sek's bedroom and - 3 - - 4 - No. 14 noticed that his door was open. Lee saw a hand from under a blanket on the floor, and noticed that there was blood on the floor and walls. When he looked at Cho's bedroom door he saw that it was closed, but noticed blood on the door and doorknob. He then went outside and also called 911. While Lee waited, Tsang arrived and called 911. The two men then stood outside the building until the police arrived. The police went up to the apartment and found Sek lying next to his bed, unconscious, in a pool of blood and partially covered with a blanket, his legs bound together. The officers then heard a moan from Cho's bedroom and kicked in the locked door. They found Cho on the blood-covered floor, semi-conscious, with her stomach cut open. She was barely able to speak. The Emergency Medical Technician pronounced Sek dead at the scene. Cho died at about 10:30 p.m. at the hospital.