{"id":255076,"date":"2026-04-07T03:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/255076\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T03:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:29:07","slug":"judge-denies-request-by-lookout-accomplice-to-overturn-conviction-in-orange-countys-notorious-1992-honor-roll-murder-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/255076\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge denies request by \u2018lookout\u2019 accomplice to overturn conviction in Orange County\u2019s notorious 1992 \u2018honor roll murder\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long-running request by a man who spent more than a decade in prison for serving as a lookout during the notorious 1992 \u201chonor roll murder<\/a>\u201d of a teen by his high school-age peers to have his conviction overturned has been denied by an Orange County judge.<\/p>\n

Kirn Young Kim, then 16, denied in recent testimony that he was a knowing participant<\/a> in the plot to kill Stuart Tay at a Buena Park home on New Year\u2019s Eve 1992. Kim, recently taking the stand for the first time decades after the killing<\/a>, said he believed the plan to beat Tay to death and bury him in a makeshift grave was pure fantasy<\/a>, until it suddenly became all too real.<\/p>\n

The killing of Tay, an honors student, by a group of similarly academically gifted teens who largely grew up in affluent families drew international attention and helped inspire a Hollywood movie. Kim was convicted for his role in the killing, paroled after becoming a model prisoner<\/a> and more than seven years ago moved to vacate his conviction.<\/p>\n

Robert Chan, at the time a valedictorian candidate at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, orchestrated Tay\u2019s killing. Chan\u2019s plot was spurred by a falling out he had with Tay over a mutual plan to rob a computer salesman. Prosecutors allege that Chan laid out his plan to kill Tay to four other teens, including Kim. Chan showed the other teens a shallow grave he had dug in one of the teen\u2019s\u2019 backyard, and walked them through a \u201crehearsal\u201d of the killing, which took place in an adjacent garage.<\/p>\n

Chan persuaded Tay to go with him to the Buena Park home, where Chan and another teen beat Tay with baseball bats and at one point a sledgehammer while Tay begged for help. Chan then forced Tay to drink rubbing alcohol and sealed his mouth with duct tape \u2014 leading him to choke on his own vomit \u2014 before burying Tay in the makeshift grave.<\/p>\n

While the other teens beat Tay to death and buried him, Kim was sitting in his car down the street. Prosecutors say he was acting as a lookout. After the killing, Kim drove Tay\u2019s car to Compton and abandoned it.<\/p>\n

Kim, in recent testimony, acknowledged hearing Chan say he planned to kill Tay. But he added that Chan had a history of making grandiose and false claims \u2014 including lying about killing people \u2014 and described the deadly plan that Chan crafted for Tay as \u201cunbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes to state law meant that, unlike at the time of Kim\u2019s trial, prosecutors are no longer able to argue a natural and probable consequences theory that anyone involved in the plot that led to Tay\u2019s death could face the same charges as the actual killers. Prosecutors now had to prove that Kim was fully aware of the plot, was an active participant and aided and abetted the killers.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s attorney, Ray Chen, argued last month that Tay\u2019s kiling was \u201cbasically an ad hoc, hastily thrown together, ridiculous plot hatched by a person (Chan) who was ostensibly the smartest of the group.\u201d A prosecutor, Brian Fitzpatrick, responded that Kim \u201cknew what was going to happen, intended to help him happen, and played his role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary S. Paer determined in a written ruling released late last week that there was \u201coverwhelming direct and circumstantial evidence\u201d that Kim \u201cdirectly aided and abetted\u201d in Tay\u2019s murder. As a result, the judge found that prosecutors had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they could still convict Kim of Tay\u2019s murder under current state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant (Kim) knew Chan wanted to kill Tay, he knew Chan\u2019s plan to kill Tay, and he knew his role in helping Chan accomplish his plan to kill Tay,\u201d Paer wrote. \u201cFrom start to finish, defendant (Kim) carried out his role in helping Chan accomplish the killing\u2026 Stuart Tay\u2019s murder involved a detailed plan involving five perpetrators, four locations, three vehicles, decoy items, disguises, hidden weapons, theft of property, abandonment of property and a shallow grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paer described Kim\u2019s claims that he didn\u2019t know Chan would kill Tay as \u201cunbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant (Kim) assisted Chan in digging a hole for Tay\u2019s body, attended a rehearsal before the killing, served as a lookout at two locations, disguised himself for several hours, retrieved Tay\u2019s car from Chan\u2019s house, drove Tay\u2019s car to Compton to abandon it and took a share of the victim\u2019s money after the murder,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cThese actions all show defendant (Kim) knew Chan was serious and intended to kill Tay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge focused a significant part of his written ruling on Kim\u2019s relationship with Chan. Kim began hanging out with Chan after a falling out with his old friends, whom his mother didn\u2019t like because they weren\u2019t academic achievers. Chan, by comparison, was a valedictorian student with early college acceptance.<\/p>\n

The judge noted that Kim told a parole board in 2011 that \u201cI made a very poor choice. I was desperate for acceptance, and, in doing so, I overrode all sense of morals,\u201d later adding \u201cI am responsible because I chose to go along with Robert Chan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the ruling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long-running request by a man who spent more than a decade in prison for serving as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1312,723,138,100],"class_list":{"0":"post-255076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}