By Peter A. Sutters Jr.
Opening arguments were pre-empted by a news conference held by City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) on the steps of the courthouse with family members of 18-year-old Huang Chen, of Woodside, who was murdered on March 13, 2004 as he delivered food to an apartment in Rochdale Village. Liu repeatedly demanded justice and called for the maximum sentence to be imposed on Charles Bryant, 17, of Rosedale, who is charged with murder, robbery, possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence in the slaying of Chen.Bryant and Nayquan Miller, 17, of Rochdale Village are facing murder charges, but a third person believed to have been involved in crime is the target of an investigation by the Queens district attorney's office. Miller's case is still in the pre-trial stage and is expected to begin at the conclusion of Bryant's trial, according to the DA.The two young men are accused of calling the Chen family's Ming Garden restaurant on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in South Jamaica and ordering food to be delivered to Miller's apartment where they waited for Chen and allegedly beat and stabbed him to death and disposed of his body in Brookville Park, the DA said.”We want the maximum sentence to be handed out to these brutal killers,” said Lui, standing next to Chen's mother, who was clutching a framed picture of her son. He called for a harsh sentence in the case not only to punish the killers but to see that this kind of crime does not happen again.”We want to send a strong message that there will be no open season on deliverymen and immigrants,” said Lui. In 1999 two teenage boys in Hollis killed a Chinese deliveryman with a baseball bat after he had brought them their food. That incident was followed by the 2000 slaying of another Chinese food deliveryman in Springfield Gardens by five teenagers, who beat the man to death with a brick. “When I close my eyes, I can still see him going out the door,” said Chen's sister, Summer, fighting back tears Judge Robert J. Hanophy was displeased with the pre-trial news conference and said it could have caused a mistrial had a jury member seen any of it.”If it was to put pressure on me, I don't like it,” Hanophy told the prosecution in the courtroom prior to the jury's arrival. “Tell them to stay away from the courthouse.” Deputy Bureau Chief Brian Leventhal took the jury through each step of the night when Chen was killed as the prosecution opened its case.”They waited for him not because they were hungry for the food, but because they were hungry for the money,” said Leventhal before describing how Chen was beaten, stabbed, and his body dumped in a Rosedale park. Leventhal pointed out that Bryant had signed a confession drawn up by police and then said he lied in the first statement and wanted to write another one, this time the confession was in his own handwriting. He also said evidence would be introduced during the trial that would link Bryant to the crime scene through DNA from Chen that was found on a pair of boots recovered at the Bryant's home. Bryant, dressed in a black suit and tie, sat looking down in the courthouse as members of Chen's family silently wept when Leventhal described the killing.The defense lawyer, Brian Perskin, did not deny that a brutal murder had taken place, but said that the confessions given by Bryant were not recorded on video or audio tape and were done without the presence of his parents or a lawyer by seasoned detectives. He also said the DNA evidence taken from Bryant's boot was a “crumb” of blood and could have gotten there after the boots were brought to the 113th Precinct by contamination from police who had been to a crime scene.”Half of the officers from the 113th Precinct had been to one of the three crime scenes,” said Perskin. He pointed out the other two sets of boots taken by police from Miller's apartment had been covered in blood. “At the end of the trial you will find that Charles Bryant is not guilty of any of these charges,” said Perskin.Reach reporter Peter A. Sutters Jr. by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext 173.
