Ng Jury Begins Deliberations

SANTA ANA â€”  A jury began the task Monday of poring over grisly evidence and deciding the fate of alleged serial killer Charles Ng, accused of murdering 12 people in a Northern California cabin nearly 14 years ago.

Ng, 38, faces the death penalty if he is convicted in one of the costliest and longest-running murder cases in state history.

On Monday morning, the defense and prosecution delivered their last pleas to the jury, each arguing its own version of the evidence introduced in the three-month trial.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Sharlene Honnaka painted Ng as a more than willing participant in a twisted scheme that included kidnapping two women who were held as sex slaves until they were murdered.

“He was in it for the thrill of the kill, the fun of the gun,� said the prosecutor, pointing to a cartoon Ng allegedly drew while he was in a Canadian prison. The drawing depicts Ng in a San Quentin prison cell with pictures of his alleged victims hanging on the wall. Also drawn on the wall are the phrases “No Kill, no thrill� and “No gun, no fun.�

The defense countered that the drawing is wrongly being portrayed as a confession or admission of guilt. Defense attorneys said it was the product of sick joshing between the defendant and a fellow inmate who later became a jailhouse informant against Ng and turned over evidence in exchange for more lenient treatment in his own case.

“Things are not always what they appear,� defense attorney Lewis Clapp told jurors.

Ng fled to Canada in 1985, shortly after his alleged accomplice, survivalist Leonard Lake, 39, was arrested and committed suicide.

In a cabin property in Wilseyville, a rural town in Calaveras County near the Sierra Nevada foothills, authorities recovered nearly 1,000 pieces of charred human bones, and a bunker they believe Ng and Lake used as a prison cell for their alleged victims. The property, occupied by Lake and owned by his former in-laws, was a virtual killing field, the prosecution contends.

Ng was captured in Canada during an attempted shoplifting in which he shot a security guard. He served time for attempted murder in that case, and was extradited to California in 1991 to face murder charges. The case was later transferred to Orange County because of pretrial publicity in Northern California.

Ng’s attorney have maintained that their client was a patsy who was manipulated by Lake. They put the blame for the murders squarely on Lake.

During the trial, the defense introduced portions of Lake’s diary in which he expounded on his plan to kidnap a young woman and turn her into a willing sex slave using a careful mix of punishment and rewards.

Clapp argued that Ng was helping Lake fulfill this fantasy, and was unaware of Lake’s plan to kill anyone. Ng admitted helping Lake bury two of the victims, but said he learned of the other murders from news accounts.

The prosecution case is built around a strongly woven set of circumstantial evidence that, they argue, point to Ng as at least a participant if not the actual triggerman in all of the 12 murders. There is no physical evidence, fingerprints, murder weapons or DNA testing, that links Ng to any of the 12 murders.