By Peter a. Sutters Jr.
Charles Bryant, 17, of Rosedale is accused along with his friend Naquan Miller, 17, of Rochdale Village in the brutal beating death of 18-year-old Huang Chen, of Woodside in March 2003. Prosecutors contend the two called in an order of Chinese food from Huang's family restaurant, waited for him to arrive, allegedly beat and stabbed him to death and then disposed of his body in a nearby park. Miller's case is still in the pre-trial stage and expected to begin at the conclusion of Bryant's trial. A third person thought to be involved in the crime has not been charged, but is still the target of an investigation by the Queens district attorney's office.Bryant, dressed in a black suit and tie, testified that he was nervous on the stand and had to be repeatedly asked by State Supreme Court Judge Robert J. Hanophy to speak up and talk into the microphone.Bryant said that when he was being questioned by detectives the day following the murder, he was denied access to a lawyer as well as to his mother. He said he did not sign a document waiving his rights until after the police had forced him to sign two confessions.He told the jury that the detectives came to him with a prepared statement and asked him to sign it, and when he refused, they hit him in the face with an open palm until he said he would cooperate. “He hit me a couple of time across the face,” the teenager said. “He told me the only way I'll stop hitting you is if you cooperate.”Bryant demonstrated how Detective William Hendrickson hit him across the face and shouted into the microphone to show the jury the detective's demeanor at the request of his attorney, Brian Perskin. “I told him I would cooperate if he would stop, I told him anything he asked me to do, I'll do,” said Bryant. “I wanted him to stop hitting me.” Bryant said he signed the confession drawn up by police and later handwrote another confession that the police dictated to him. The 17-year-old also described to the jury the events that took place on the night of March 13, 2004 when the murder occurred and said he had left Miller's apartment before the killing.Bryant said he was on the phone with his girlfriend when Miller and another friend at the apartment, William “Hits” Kaypart, asked him to call in an order for Chinese food, which his girlfriend did through a three-way call. Bryant then said he heard Miller and Kaypart talking about robbing someone and he did not want to be part of it, so he left. “I said I didn't want to be involved,” said Bryant.”And what did (Miller and Kaypart) say when you told them that?” asked Perskin.”They kept calling me names,” said Bryant. “They kept calling me a punk.””Did you rob anyone that night?” asked Perskin.”No.””Did you murder anyone that night?””No.”Bryant said he left the Rochdale Village apartment complex and took a bus home, waiting about a half an hour for it to arrive and another half an hour to get home. After the conclusion of the day's testimony, Perskin told reporters he did not put Bryant's mother on the stand to serve as an alibi witness because “it's more important for her to be in the front row of the court to support her son.”In testimony Monday, Perskin attempted to poke holes in the prosecution's DNA evidence by aiming his line of questioning at the chance blood had been transferred from police at the crime scene to Bryant's boot, which had been brought to the precinct for evidence. Bryant also testified the boots taken into evidence by police were different from the boots he was wearing the day of the murder.The trial was expected to wrap up by the end of the week.Reach reporter Peter Sutters by e-mail at news@TimesLedger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 173
