SEATTLE -- Prosecution and defense lawyers argued heatedly Tuesday over alleged threats on the life of the one survivor of the Chinatown gambling club massacre in which 13 persons were killed.
Assistant King County Prosecutor Robert Laslik suggested the possibility of assassination among the reasons for taking videotaped testimony from Wai Chin, 61, before the trial of two young men charged with 13 counts of murder.
Defense attorney John Henry Browne strongly objected, telling King County Superior Court Judge Frank D. Howard 'the press will go crazy with a comment like that.'
Browne, who represents Benjamin Ng, 20, argued that the decision on videotaped testimony should be based on Chin's health and 'not some supposed, fanciful assassination attempt.'
Ng and Kwan 'Willie' Mak, 22, both immigrants from Hong Kong who have lived in Seattle for several years, were arrested hours after the Feb. 19 slayings at the Wah Mee Club in Seattle's International District. Authorities said they were identified by Chin, who was shot by the killers but survived.
Howard set the trial for April 20, but told defense lawyers he'd listen to arguments at an April 1 omnibus hearing on their requests to delay the trial.
The judge ruled the prosecution could take Chin's testimony on videotape in the next two or three weeks, but said he would listen to further defense objections to the procedure at next week's hearing.
'We'd much rather have Mr. Chin alive than anything else,' Browne said, so defense attorneys will have a chance to cross-examine him on stand.
He accused Laslik of trying to 'inject melodrama into this case.'
Browne erupted angrily again during a recess in the hearing when Laslik was discussing the possibility of a threat on Chin's life with reporters.
'We don't want him to die,' Browne said, accusing the prosecutor of 'gross mischaracterization.'
Laslik said he didn't mean the defense was a threat to the prosecution's key witness. 'There are people out there who would like to see him dead,' he said. 'That's what I meant to say.'
Before the judge, the prosecutor noted Chin was secluded in a private residence under heavy guard and that a third suspect in the mass murders is still at large.
He also argued Chin has two bullet fragments in his neck and there is a possibility they could create deep abcesses and erode major blood vessels. In addition, Laslik said, Chin 'is a rather frail, 61-year-old man who has chronic emphysema' which is exacerbated by his wounds.
