Abraham Acosta

One teen-ager who acted as a lookout and another who landed the first blow should be spared murder convictions in the 1992 New Year's Eve slaying of honor student Stuart A. Tay, their attorneys said Tuesday.

Allstate Insurance Co. insists it isn't responsible for paying for the pain and hardship endured by the family of an Orange County honors student who was beaten to death, and the company filed a lawsuit Friday to make its point. The Illinois-based company insures the family of Charles Bae Choe of Fullerton, who was convicted as a juvenile for standing by and watching as four other youths battered Santa Ana High School senior Stuart A. Tay with bats and a hammer in 1992.

Two Orange County teen-agers were found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in a 1992 New Year's Eve slaying that gained nationwide attention as a troubling portrait of youth violence. Kirn Kim, 18, and Abraham Acosta, 17, were the last of five youths convicted in the killing of Stuart A. Tay, a 17-year-old high school honor student from Orange who aspired to be a doctor like his father. Kim had acted as lookout while the others lured Tay to the back yard of Acosta's Buena Park home.

A judge on Friday ordered three teen-agers to undergo diagnostic testing at the California Youth Authority before they are sentenced for their roles in the 1992 New Year's Eve murder of honor student Stuart A. Tay. Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O'Leary will use the reports to determine whether the teen-agers should be sentenced as adults--and possibly face life in prison--or as teen-agers, in which case they could be released when they turn 25.

A Sunny Hills High School student accused of striking the first blow in the fatal attack on Stuart Tay pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge. Abraham Acosta, 16, of Buena Park was ordered to return to Juvenile Court Feb. 5 for a hearing to determine whether he should be tried as an adult. During the brief hearing on Thursday, Acosta kept his head bowed to avoid having his picture taken by news photographers.

The remaining two teen-agers on trial for the 1992 New Year's Eve murder of honor student Stuart A. Tay of Orange were unwitting pawns manipulated by the teen who masterminded the brutal slaying, defense attorneys told a jury Tuesday. * Abraham Acosta, 17, of Buena Park and Kirn Kim, 18, of Fullerton, never intended to kill Tay and were tricked into participating in the slaying by Robert Chan, 19, of Fullerton, who has already been convicted of orchestrating the murder, defense attorneys said.

A judge on Tuesday ordered that two juveniles, accused along with three others in the brutal New Year's Eve slaying of honor student Stuart A. Tay, be tried as adults, making them eligible for life without parole if convicted. Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Francisco P. Briseno ruled that because of the heinousness of the crime, Mun Bong Kang, 17, and Abraham Acosta, 16, should be treated as adults, despite evidence showing their mental limitations.

The 17 years of Stuart A. Tay's life could not have been more strikingly different than his last day alive. The bespectacled honors student with a renaissance range of talent lay crumpled in a muddy back yard grave in Buena Park on a chilly New Year's Eve, his reputation soon to be tarnished by whispers of a robbery plan gone sour and a love triangle involving his accused killer.

Two Orange County teen-agers were found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the 1992 New Year's Eve killing of a 17-year-old honors student who was bludgeoned and buried in a back-yard grave in a case that gained nationwide attention as a troubling portrait of youth violence. Kirn Kim, 18, and Abraham Acosta, 17, were the last of five youths convicted in the killing of Stuart A. Tay, a high school student from Orange who aspired to be a doctor like his father.

Robert Chan was one of the brightest students to ever walk the halls at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton but he was also typical teen: He agonized over acne and clothes and had to work up the nerve to ask out a pretty cheerleader. "I don't date, you know, I don't know any girls," Chan told a Superior Court jury, shrugging shyly and looking boyish in a pale yellow sweater with a white collar peeking over the top.

Two Orange County teen-agers were found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in a 1992 New Year's Eve slaying that gained nationwide attention as a troubling portrait of youth violence. Kirn Kim, 18, and Abraham Acosta, 17, were the last of five youths convicted in the killing of Stuart A. Tay, a 17-year-old high school honor student from Orange who aspired to be a doctor like his father. Kim had acted as lookout while the others lured Tay to the back yard of Acosta's Buena Park home.

Two Orange County teen-agers were found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the 1992 New Year's Eve killing of a 17-year-old honors student who was bludgeoned and buried in a back-yard grave in a case that gained nationwide attention as a troubling portrait of youth violence. Kirn Kim, 18, and Abraham Acosta, 17, were the last of five youths convicted in the killing of Stuart A. Tay, a high school student from Orange who aspired to be a doctor like his father.

One teen-ager who acted as a lookout and another who landed the first blow should be spared murder convictions in the 1992 New Year's Eve slaying of honor student Stuart A. Tay, their attorneys said Tuesday.

The last two teen-agers facing charges in the 1992 New Year's Eve slaying of honor student Stuart A. Tay are "crafty young men" trying to blame others for their involvement in the brutal murder, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. Abraham Acosta, 17, of Buena Park and Kirn Kim, 18, of Fullerton claim they were tricked into participating in the slaying and were unaware that a murder was planned. But Deputy Dist. Atty.

The remaining two teen-agers on trial for the 1992 New Year's Eve murder of honor student Stuart A. Tay of Orange were unwitting pawns manipulated by the teen who masterminded the brutal slaying, defense attorneys told a jury Tuesday. * Abraham Acosta, 17, of Buena Park and Kirn Kim, 18, of Fullerton, never intended to kill Tay and were tricked into participating in the slaying by Robert Chan, 19, of Fullerton, who has already been convicted of orchestrating the murder, defense attorneys said.

The teen-ager who landed the first blow with a baseball bat and another teen who acted as a lookout are equally culpable in the New Year's Eve 1992 murder of honors student Stuart A. Tay, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. Abraham Acosta, 17, of Buena Park and Kirn Kim, 18, of Fullerton, face life in prison without parole if convicted of all charges. Three other teen-agers have already been convicted of murdering Tay after a planned computer heist went awry.

Allstate Insurance Co. insists it isn't responsible for paying for the pain and hardship endured by the family of an Orange County honors student who was beaten to death, and the company filed a lawsuit Friday to make its point. The Illinois-based company insures the family of Charles Bae Choe of Fullerton, who was convicted as a juvenile for standing by and watching as four other youths battered Santa Ana High School senior Stuart A. Tay with bats and a hammer in 1992.

An Orange County Grand Jury on Monday indicted four teen-agers accused of killing 17-year-old honor student Stuart Tay, quickening the pace for the prosecution, the district attorney's office announced Tuesday. "It's a lot faster and it's a lot more efficient," Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum said, estimating that he cut six to eight months out of the legal process by obtaining the indictment. "Can you imagine how long it would take with four defense attorneys cross-examining each witness?

Robert Chan was one of the brightest students to ever walk the halls at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton but he was also typical teen: He agonized over acne and clothes and had to work up the nerve to ask out a pretty cheerleader. "I don't date, you know, I don't know any girls," Chan told a Superior Court jury, shrugging shyly and looking boyish in a pale yellow sweater with a white collar peeking over the top.

As far as criminal cases go, it was a loser. The accused was a poor, illegal immigrant. The accuser was a veteran police officer who testified he watched the defendant buy drugs. "I remember thinking 'Who am I kidding? The guy can barely speak English and the officer swears he did it,' " Orange County Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg said of her first felony trial. Gragg--who believed her client innocent--was shocked by a not-guilty verdict.