By Betsy Scheinbart
The widow of a Chinese restaurant owner who was beaten to death during a robbery in Springfield Gardens last year made an emotional plea in court Tuesday, asking one of the teenagers involved to explain why her husband was killed.
“I don’t understand why you did this, why you did this cruel thing to him,” Boa Zhu Chen said between sobs. She spoke right before the sentencing of James Stone, 17, of Springfield Gardens, who pleaded guilty to robbery charges in a plea bargain deal in August and was sentenced to 17 years in jail Tuesday.
Five teenagers were accused of ordering Chinese food from Chen’s husband, Jin Sheng Liu, luring him to an abandoned house in Springfield Gardens and murdering him with a brick on Sept. 1, 2000.
Chen, a petite woman, wore a pink suit jacket and black pants as she stood at a podium in the back of the courtroom, facing State Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy.
Stone, a tall and sturdy young man, wore blue jeans and a khaki shirt as he faced the judge. His back was turned to Chen as she addressed him.
Chen, who emigrated from the Chinese province of Fuzhou in 1998, spoke in her native dialect as a court-appointed translator struggled to keep up with her.
“Now my husband is gone and I am all alone here in America,” she said, gasping for air between sobs.
Chen, whose husband owned the Golden Wok restaurant on Linden Boulevard in St. Albans, has two teenage children who are high school students.
Of the five southeast Queens teens accused of robbery and murder, Springfield Gardens residents Darryl Tyson, 18, and Jamel Murphy 18, pleaded guilty to robbery in addition to Stone. Tyson and Murphy were awaiting sentencing.
A 15-year-old defendant from Springfield Gardens who is accused of striking the fatal blow to Liu’s head with a brick will go to trial Nov. 1 on charges of murder in the second degree. The TimesLedger has not identified him because of his age.
Stacy Royster, 17, of Rosedale, who is accused of making the phone call to have the Chinese food delivered will be tried Nov. 1 on charges of murder in the second degree.
According to statements given to police by Stone and Tyson and read in court earlier this year, the teens planned to order the food and scare the deliveryman away without paying.
They said the plan backfired when Stone failed to cover the deliveryman’s head with a sheet, as originally planned. The 15-year-old defendant then allegedly used a brick to hit the victim, striking him the head, Tyson and Stone said.
When she spoke in court Tuesday, Chen tried to tell Stone how her husband’s death had torn her family apart.
“What am I going to do now? It’s just me and my children,” Chen said. “It’s very difficult. I don’t know how to live, how to go on.”
Chen continued to speak between hysterical cries as members of the court and the Stone’s family wiped their eyes and pulled out tissues.
“He only delivered to you so you could eat. Why did you do this?” Chen cried. “How are we going to survive?”
Chen threw her head down on a podium and sobbed as Alfred Lui, her counselor, and Wilma Boyd, the director of the Victims’ Advocates Office for the Queens DA’s office, tried to console her.
Because of her emotional state, Chen was unable to express her feelings on Stone’s sentence. She had previously told Assistant District Attorney Stephen Antignani and reporters that she wanted Stone to be in jail much longer than 17 years.
Antignani told the court that he tried to explain to Chen why the sentence was 17 years, not life in jail: Stone had not used a brick to hit Liu, he had no prior criminal record and he came from a hardworking, middle-class family which cooperated with law enforcement officials.
Stone’s lawyer, Victor Knapp, also said Stone was “more of a follower than a doer.”
“He asked me to explain to Mrs. Liu the remorse he does feel,” Knapp said of Stone.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
