In 1985, Ng evaded authorities before escaping to Canada, where he was arrested that same year for shoplifting and shooting a security guard. He fought extradition from Canada for six years until Canada’s Supreme Court ordered him to return to California in 1991, where he awaited trial, per the Los Angeles Times. Ng’s trial was one of the longest and most expensive in California, costing millions as he reportedly delayed it several times by firing his lawyers, changing the trial location, and even requesting to represent himself (via ABC News). After an eight-month trial, and deliberating for two weeks, a jury found Ng guilty of 11 murders.
Ng’s lawyers took his case to the California Supreme Court, where they argued among many things that Ng did not receive a fair trial, that he was deprived of his right to due process, and that the death penalty was unjust and violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In July 2022, the California Supreme Court handed down a decision upholding the death penalty, concluding that Ng did indeed receive a fair trial. The court also declared that California’s death penalty does not violate international law of “norms of decency.”
