By Tracey Kaplan, Lisa Fernandez and Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
Posted: 11/19/2008 11:50:15 AM PST
Clad in a bright yellow smock indicating his confinement in the county jail's mental health ward, former SiPort test engineer Jing Hua Wu was formally charged Wednesday with three counts of murder in the gunshot slayings of colleagues who met with him after he was fired.
Wu, 47, kept his head bowed during the entire five-minute hearing, and spoke only one word, "yes," in Santa Clara County Superior Court when asked to verify his true name. He did not enter a plea to the accusations stemming from Friday's shocking killings in SiPort's Santa Clara office. Judge Jerome Nadler agreed to Wu's attorneys' request to continue the case until Dec. 18.
No motive for the killings has been disclosed. But company officials say Wu was fired Nov. 14, the day of the shootings for "poor performance.'' The engineer owns more than a dozen investment properties whose value has apparently diminished in the real estate crisis.
The victims' families did not show up at the hearing. They were occupied with the sad business of arranging or attending funerals. The victims — Marilyn Lewis, 67, of San Jose, the company's head of human resources; Brian Pugh, 47, of Los Altos, who was vice president of operations; and chief executive and co-founder Sid Agrawal, 56, of Fremont — had agreed to meet with Wu on Friday afternoon — a few hours after he was fired. Police say the three met in a conference room with Wu, where he allegedly gunned them down.
Wu's relatives, including his wife and three young children, also weren't at the hearing, but at least three female acquaintances came, quietly sitting in the crowded Hall of Justice courtroom.
Among them was Karen Cai, a professional ping-pong player and a member of the San Jose-based Silicon Valley Chinese Engineers Association, who tried to shed light on a possible motive for the shootings. Cai, who first met Wu at a party ten years ago, said a mutual friend recently told her that Wu had often complained about his boss.
"Before, his boss was good,'' said Cai, apologizing for her English. "His current boss, no good for him.''
The charges filed Wednesday against Wu carry "special circumstances'' — for the killing of multiple human beings. That distinction makes Wu eligible either for life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office will weigh whether to seek the death penalty in the coming months. The office will consider several factors, including the wishes of the victims' families and the defendant's record, said Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen, who is handling the case.
Wu has been housed in the mental health ward of the main jail since he was arrested Saturday at a Mountain View shopping center, 19 hours after the shootings. Rosen said a 9 mm gun that police say was used in the shootings was found in the trunk of Wu's rental car.
Two attorneys from the county Public Defender's Office have been assigned to defend Wu, at least until authorities determine whether he can hire private counsel. Deputy Public Defender Kenneth A. Mandel said he could not disclose whether Wu was in the jail's mental health ward because he was suicidal, citing attorney-client privilege. But Mandel did describe Wu's state of mind.
"He's distraught," Mandel said, "there's no question of that, he's tearful.''.
Co-counsel Michael Ogul said Wu is not in the mental health ward merely in preparation for an insanity defense.
"This is not something manufactured by the defense — it's not his choice to be there, it was decided by the sheriff's department before we even met him,'' said Ogul. "Remember, even a good person who is loving and hard-working and law-abiding can break under stress."
Peiru Shen, who used to be an attorney in China, said she drove all the way from Vallejo to Wu's first court appearance. She knows of Wu through a friend, and she feels a connection to him if only because they seem to have similar family lives. "I came, because I want to know what's the reason?'' Shen asked. "I want to know, why did he do this?''
Earlier on Wednesday, a huge crowd of mourners gathered to pay their respects to Agrawal, one of the founders of SiPort, a maker of mobile chips. The Agrawal family requested that the funeral service remain private, but long lines of cars pulled into the Lima Family Mortuary in Fremont and were directed to overflow parking areas.
Agrawal, 56, lived in the Fremont foothills with his family not far from the mortuary. His two college-age sons returned from Harvard University to join their mother and extended family at the service.
Hundreds of mourners streamed into the mortuary, including co-workers, family and friends.
Lewis' memorial is set for today at Oak Hill Cemetery (Chapel of the Roses) in San Jose. In lieu of flowers, Lewis' family is asking that contributions may be made in her memory to the Greater Bay Area Make a Wish Foundation. .
Pugh's funeral is set for 1 p.m. Friday at the Los Altos United Methodist Church.
Mercury News Staff Writer Julia Prodis Sulek also contributed to this story.
Contact Tracey Kaplan at
[email protected] or (408) 278-3482.
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