Boping Chen, a Fremont piano teacher convicted in March 2006 of 63 counts of child molestation involving an 8-year-old Menlo Park girl, will have his case retried in San Mateo County Superior Court.
After two days of testimony, Judge Stephen Hall concluded on June 1 that Mr. Chen’s representation in the 2006 trial was “not competent” because his defense attorney did not have a psychological expert testify as to whether Mr. Chen fit the profile of a pedophile, according to a report by Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
On June 4, Criminal Presiding Judge James Ellis set Nov. 2 as the date for a new jury trial for Mr. Chen, with a pre-trial conference set for June 22 at 1 p.m., Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in a report. The judge denied a motion to have him released under his own recognizance and set bail at $100,000.
Mr. Chen posted bail, but because he’s been imprisoned in San Quentin, the county needs permission from the Department of Corrections to release him, Doron Weinberg, his attorney, said.
In explaining why he did not obtain a psychological profile of Mr. Chen, his trial attorney, Alan Dressler, said an expert-witness had told him that psychological tests would be inadvisable, given Mr. Chen’s limited understanding of English and the lack of accurate test results for Chinese speakers, according to Mr. Wagstaffe’s report. Mr. Chen immigrated to the United States from Shanghai in 2000.
Mr. Dressler could not be reached for comment.
As a defense attorney, Mr. Dressler should not have relied on the views of one psychiatric expert but should have sought other opinions, said Dr. Marvin Firestone, an expert witness based in San Mateo. Dr. Firestone dismissed the notion that an accurate assessment was not possible, saying that he personally had used interpreters and “had no trouble … determining the defendant was not a pedophile,” Mr. Wagstaffe said.
Two more expert witnesses for the defense, both local attorneys, testified in agreement with Dr. Firestone’s conclusions about what Mr. Dressler should have done.
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