Murder suspect may face
death penalty
By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor
The Purdue student
charged in connection with the Aug. 2 murder of two Korean women may
face the death penalty or life without parole, according to a spokesman
from the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office.
Following Monday's filing
of 12 formal charges against him, Zhan Yin, 27, a graduate student in
biology, heard the formal charges against him on Tuesday. The court
hearing took place in the Tippecanoe County Jail.
Yin is being held in jail
in connection with the Aug. 2 murders of two women in the Purdue Village
apartments. He has also been charged with theft, robbery, burglary and
attempted arson.
Tim Kern, deputy prosecutor,
made it a point to inform Yin of the possibility of the death penalty
or life without parole.
"Certainly, we're considering
that," Kern said after the hearing. "We'll have to look at the circumstances
and the nature of the offense."
The state has not filed the
paperwork necessary to pursue the death penalty because it is waiting
to hear the specifics of the case, Kern said.
Yin is charged with killing
two sisters in their Arnold Drive apartment, taking a wallet and student
ID from one and a set of keys from the other, attempting arson and burglary.
The first two charges are
for the murder of Yeunkyung Woo, 31, a Purdue graduate student in biology,
and the other for her sister, Hyo Kyung Woo, 31, of Chicago. The sister
was visiting from Chicago. Each murder charge is punishable by 45-65
years in jail and a fine up to $10,000.
The other 10 charges, which
include burglary, theft and attempted arson, are all felony charges
as well.
Yin, who is being held without
bond in county jail, was appointed to a public defender, Kevin O'Reilly,
and the omnibus date for the trial was set for 9 a.m. Sept. 28. The
plea cut-off date is Nov. 23.
An affidavit filed Monday
cited anger stemming from a traffic incident as the motive for the crimes.
Allegedly Hyo Kyung had nearly struck Yin with her vehicle while he
was riding his bicycle on Arnold Drive.
Kern said everyone's heard
of "road rage," but he hasn't ever seen it used as a probable cause
for murder.
Yin answered questions in
English, but had to have some details of the charges explained to him
by a court-appointed interpreter, Kingsley Wu. Yin wore a faded yellow
jail uniform and spoke very little as he had his rights and the charges
read to him.
Wu, a professor of visual
and performing arts at Purdue who has no other involvement in the case,
was born in China and lived there until he was 19, but he has spoken
English and Cantonese Chinese for 67 years. Yin's dialect, Mandarin
Chinese, is familiar to him.
Yin brought an interpreter
that he wanted to use, but Wu was the court's interpreter of choice.
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