Jury Finds Man Guilty in Murder of 2 DEA Agents

Michael Su Chia was found guilty Tuesday of murder for his part in a plan to rob and kill two U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents who were posing as fellow drug dealers.

On their third day of deliberations, a jury in Pasadena Superior Court found Chia guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one of attempted murder, one of robbery and one of conspiracy to rob. The 21-year-old Taiwanese national faces two consecutive life sentences for his role in the plot, which resulted in the deaths of four people.

During the 21-day trial, the prosecution contended that Chia, of Alhambra, plotted with three others to rob and then kill the agents, whom they thought were drug dealers. Because the deaths resulted from the robbery, the law allowed Chia to be charged in the murders.

“We were delighted,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Martinez said of the verdict. “We had to convince the jury that he was an aider and abettor and a conspirator. So we had to select a jury that could understand the complexities of the conspiracy laws.”

Defense attorney Brian Lysaght said he was “extremely disappointed” in the verdict and will appeal the decision after a sentencing hearing on Dec. 21. Chia was “very surprised and disappointed,” Lysaght said afterward. Chia’s mother wept.

Could Face Death Penalty

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Dec. 5 for the only surviving alleged participant in the drug deal double-cross, William Wang, 18, of Hacienda Heights. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The jury rejected the defense attorney’s argument that DEA agents had lied in their testimony about mistakes in the drug-buy that led to shoot-outs in Pasadena and San Marino neighborhoods on Feb. 5.

Prosecutors gave this account of the incident:

Three DEA agents--Paul Seema, 52, George M. Montoya, 34, and Jose Martinez, 25--met Wang, Frank Kow and Michael Sun, both of Monterey Park, before noon at Tiny Naylor’s restaurant in Monterey Park to arrange to buy 2 pounds of heroin.

After showing Kow a briefcase with $80,000 of government money in it, the agents drove him to a house on Marengo Avenue in Pasadena to pick up the drugs. A second car with Sun and Wang followed. Walking toward the house, Kow suddenly turned and opened fire on the agents; Wang joined in the shooting.

Montoya and Seema were killed as they sat in their white Volvo. Martinez jumped from the car and was wounded in both legs.

“It’s a rip,” a surveillance agent yelled as a backup team moved in. The suspects sped off in a car, trying to ram the pursuing agents. The agents ran the fleeing car off the road in San Marino, and Sun and Kow were killed in a hail of bullets. Wang was shot eight times.

Contention arose concerning Chia’s part. The prosecution charged that Chia and his friends had been planning the robbery for at least a month, and a gun shop owner testified that Chia tried to buy bullets from him. Three ski masks, bullets, a gun clip and three pairs of handcuffs were found in Chia’s car when he was arrested an hour after the slayings.

Agents testified that Chia acted as a lookout during the restaurant meeting and spoke with Wang. The only reason he did not participate in the robbery was because Chia saw the DEA surveillance car following the others, the prosecution asserted. Moreover, Martinez said, Chia tried to warn his partners by calling their beepers.

‘Angry, Distraught’

Defense attorney Brian O’Neill charged that the agents lied about details in their account of Chia’s actions. He said the agents were “angry and distraught” over the deaths, trying to cover up their own “ineptness” and bent on revenge.

O’Neill said that Chia had gone to the restaurant to stop Wang from participating in the robbery. The attorney described Chia as a “Boy Scout type” in an interview during the trial.

Chia did not take the stand. Testimony was interpreted for him into his native Mandarin.