Jul 30, 2009 3:21 pm US/Pacific
No Death Penalty In Santa Clara Office Rampage
SANTA CLARA (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
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Jing Hua Wu seen during a previous court appearance.
CBS
Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr announced Thursday that she will not seek the death penalty against a Mountain View man accused of killing three colleagues at a Santa Clara semiconductor company last fall.
Jing Hua Wu, 47, was charged with three counts of murder, with a special allegation on each count that he personally used a firearm, as well as a special circumstance charge of killing multiple victims, according to Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
On Nov. 14, 2008, Wu was fired from his job as an engineer in testing and production at SiPort Inc., which makes chips for high-definition radios.
He returned later that afternoon and shot three people: SiPort CEO Sid Agrawal, 56, of Fremont; vice president of operations Brian Pugh, 47, of Los Altos; and human resources manager Marilyn Lewis, 67, of San Jose.
If convicted of all charges, Wu could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The special circumstance charge made Wu eligible for the death penalty. However, after reviewing witness statements and physical evidence, and taking into account input from the families of the three victims, among other considerations, Carr decided not to seek the death penalty.
"While this case involves the murder of three innocent victims, we took into consideration the feelings of the victims' families, the defendant's lack of criminal history prior to the murders, and the likelihood of a jury returning a death verdict against the defendant," Carr said in a statement.
"Under these circumstances, a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole is an appropriate sentence," she said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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