April 22, 2010
Jury finds husband guilty in wife's killing
3:40 p.m.
A jury deliberated just two hours today before returning guilty verdicts against Michael Yang in the brutal beating and strangulation of his wife in the estranged couple's Lawrence home. He had maintained his innocence, but DNA testing found traces of Amenda Yang's genetic material in spots on his work uniform. Jurors also heard testimony about a letter found by the woman's body, addressed to her divorce attorney and casting blame on another man. Experts testified that in her state, she couldn't have penned such a letter; the handwriting also was suspect.
Another part of Michael Yang's plot, prosecutors said, was leaving behind a newly purchased wallet with another man's lost photo identification, which Yang may have found on the ground months earlier. He also staged a robbery by opening drawers, they said, but forgot to take anything of value.
"We're not saying he's perfect," Deputy Prosecutor Stephanie Wade said during closing arguments. "We're saying he's cold." Defense attorney Charles Hayes challenged the DNA evidence and cited coworkers' accounts and time card records to argue that Yang, who worked near the house, couldn't have slipped away long enough to kill his wife and clean up the mess. Yang, 53, faces 45 to 66 years at sentencing May 12 on convictions for murder and invasion of privacy.
He reacted to the verdicts with stoicism, even telling jurors as they filed out: "God bless all of you." This wasn't his first conviction -- in 1997, he was convicted of attempted rape for attacking a woman inside the home of an acquaintance.
At the time of the killing last May, Amenda Yang, 43, had a protective order and had filed for divorce a month earlier. Her four youngest children discovered her body in a bloody scene when they returned home from school.
Amenda Yang's brother, Tayu Lee, and his wife, Mayuree Billie Lee, were in the courtroom today. "We are profoundly grateful that the state of Indiana and its citizens were able to deliver justice for my sister Amenda," Tayu Lee, who lives near St. Paul, Minn., told me outside the courtroom. "She can now rest in peace." Of his former brother-in-law, Lee said: "They were married 23 years. I saw evilness in him in every sense."
Lee asked me to convey his gratitude for the prosecutor's office -- including Wade, Deputy Prosecutor Marci McCoy and victim advocate Linda Crocheron -- as well as all of the Lawrence police detectives and others who helped build the case.
Topic: State of Indiana V. Michael Yang (Read 2394 times)