By Associated Press
SAN JOSE — A Milpitas man pleaded innocent in federal court May 3 to charges that he sent a mail bomb inside a toy dog which killed a San Jose college student.
David Lien, 33, entered his “not guilty” plea in federal court in San Jose last Thursday.
Authorities are still looking for Lien’s alleged cohort, Anthony Chang, 33, of Las Vegas, Nev.
According to a federal grand jury indictment issued earlier this week, the two men conspired to kill Patrick Hsu. A statement by Hsu’s sister shows that she filed papers to divorce Chang in late 2000, and Chang had told her that if she ever left him, he would harm her brother, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleges that on Jan. 12, Lien sent Patrick Hsu a toy robot dog with a pipe bomb. Lien allegedly mailed the bomb after making a telephone call to Chang. Lien called Chang again that January morning, allegedly to inform him the bomb was mailed.
Matthew Jacobs, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said that the bomb was mailed to Patrick Hsu’s parents in San Jose. When the package arrived, Hsu was away at college and his father decided to open the package containing the battery-powered toy dog, but he did not put in batteries.
When Hsu came home on Feb. 10, Hsu placed batteries in the toy, igniting the bomb and causing his death.
Both Lien and Chang could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of the charges. |
