Showing posts with label bete noires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bete noires. Show all posts

05 February 2014

Bete Noire Pleaded Guilty in Ming Qu and Ying Wu Double Murders

From KPCC.org

Ming Qu and Ying Wu had recently shared the news they were in love, their families said, when they were shot to death during a botched robbery on a rainy April night in 2012.
On Wednesday, Bryan Barnes, 21, pleaded guilty to both murders, as well as special circumstances that will land him in prison for the rest of his life. Barnes received two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole, as well as two additional terms of 25 years to life in prison. By pleading, Barnes avoids the possibility of the death penalty. 
Family members of both victims travelled from China for Wednesday's court date. Several cried throughout the proceedings. Both victims' fathers read statements to the court, both asking for Barnes to be executed for the murders.
"In China, where I come from, it is only  matter of course that a killer pays a life for a life," said Xi Ying Wu.
Asked by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus if the families understood Barnes would not be sentenced to death, Wan Zi Qu said he did.
"We understand, but we say that to let out our anger," Qu said.
Qu said his son, 23 at the time of his death, had called him days before the murders to tell him he was in love.
"I was so excited I couldn’t sleep for three straight nights," Qu said, addressing Barnes. "But in only nine days, our joy had turned to mourning, because you killed them in cold blood."
Qu said the family held a posthumous ceremony for the couple. 
"All we could do was give our blessings to them in heaven," Qu said. "What a tragic end to a life."
Barnes, dressed in a blue button-down shirt and glasses, hung his head and faced forward as the men spoke behind him.
Ming Qu and Ying Wu were both only children, both nearing graduation from USC with degrees in electrical engineering. Ying Wu's father Xi Ying Wu said his daughter already had a ticket to return home when she died. Both families said they had invested everything in their children.
"I no longer have the privilege of being called a dad," Wu said. "I no longer have the chance to spoil her one more time. I can’t touch her, hear her voice. The only thing I can do is hold her picture tight and talk to her."
Judge Marcus said he believes Barnes "will be haunted by [the two deaths] and the statements made by the parents in court." 
"This was a horrific tragedy," he said. "It doesn't even begin to describe it when one says it was senseless and happened for no reason."
A second man accused in the murders, Javier Bolden, has pleaded not guilty and will next appear in court in March.
In exchange for Barnes' plea in the murders, prosecutors dropped an unrelated murder charge against him in the death of Timothy Hall.

01 June 2013

"No Justice, No Peas"


The Fairbank Report is keeping an eye on this case and will inform our thousands of readers when the government furtively releases these two ghetto thugs...To borrow a phrase from the bete noire crowd, "no justice, no peas."

from USC neontommy

A judge has once again delayed the trials of Bryan Barnes and Javier Bolden, two men charged with killing two USC graduate students in an off-campus shooting last year.

The suspects have yet to face a trial more than a year since the shootings took place. Barnes and Bolden have been in custody since late May, but defense lawyers have repeatedly delayed the scheduling of a preliminary hearing since the pair pled not guilty last July. Ming Qu and Ying Wu were found dead next to their bullet-ridden car on April 11, 2012, a mile away from campus.
Barnes is also suspected of firing shots into a party last February, which left one man paralyzed and a woman seriously injured.

“Let’s think about doing this [the trial] in September,” said Judge Stephen A. Marcus. He asked the lawyers to reconvene on June 5.
Both Barnes and Bolden face charges of murder. They could recieve the death penalty if convicted.
Family members of the suspects and members of the Chinese media attended the session, which lasted no more than 20 minutes. Barnes and Bolden walked into the room handcuffed in blue jumpsuits; Bolden blew a kiss to his mother. Lawyers for the pair then requested postponing the trials of Bolden and Barnes so they could have more time for preparation, which left the judge visibly upset.
“I am aware of preparation,” the judge told the defense attorneys. “There is a lot of time that you’ve had so far with preliminary hearing.”
He then asked the pair to waive their right to a speedy trial.
“Yes sir,” they replied, heads down.
At one point during the session, the judge snapped at the defense for their insistence to continue delaying the trial.
“You can listen to me, you can’t listen to me but I am the one sitting up here.”
Nevertheless, the defense continued to push for a delayed trial date in September and repeated that their case required a lot of preparation. One of the lawyers told the judge that she also planned to take a break during the month of August, making late September the most convenient time for her.
“Beyond September may appear to this court as unreasonable,” replied Judge Marcus.
Reach Aaron Liu here.