Modesto restaurant cook to serve 16 years to life in killing of boss

Ming Wing Chan was described in court as a kindhearted man who leaves behind a heartbroken family.

His niece, Suki Fan, said in court that her family can now gain some emotional closure.

“However, my family and I will not be able to close the wound,” she told the judge.

Zhi Jian Mei, 33, on Monday was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. Authorities say Mei bludgeoned his boss, Chan, with a meat cleaver during a confrontation inside the China Gourmet restaurant in Modesto’s Century Center.

Before Mei was sentenced, the court allowed Chan’s family to speak in court about the impact of his death.

Fan told the judge that two families lost a father the night Chan was killed, referring to the defendant’s family and her own. She said she hopes Mei can find a new purpose in life as he serves his prison sentence.

The restaurant owner’s niece also read a letter written by Chan’s wife, Mizzie Ngan.

“I had a complete family, and my life was ruined in one night,” the victim’s wife wrote.

A jury in late March found Mei guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Chan, 47. The prosecution had sought a conviction on charges of first-degree murder and robbery.

The jurors acquitted Mei of the robbery charge and chose to convict the defendant of the less-serious murder charge. Mei also was convicted of an enhancement of using a deadly weapon in the crime.

Deputy District Attorney Randy Fischer on Monday asked the judge to hand down the maximum sentence. He argued that the restaurant owner was “torturously killed” by Mei.

The deadly confrontation occurred sometime after 9 p.m. May 4, 2011, at Chan’s restaurant at Oakdale Road and Orangeburg Avenue.

NUMEROUS WOUNDS

Stanislaus County Forensic Pathologist Sung-Ook Baik testified during the trial that he found 80 “chops” alone on Chan’s face and head. Chan suffered 141 cuts on his body. Baik said the normal appearance of Chan’s face and head had been “completely destroyed.”

While none of the wounds Chan suffered were instantly fatal, the prosecutor on Monday asked the judge to imagine the pain the victim endured before he died from massive blood loss. Fischer said Chan suffered as “the life was slowly being drained from his body.”

Mark Sullivan, Mei’s defense attorney, argued that there were mitigating factors in the case, including the fact that his client had no prior criminal history. He asked the judge not to apply the meat cleaver enhancement in the defendant’s sentence.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Nancy Ashley agreed that Mei’s lack of criminal history was a mitigating factor. But she called Chan’s death “a senseless and very brutal homicide.”

The judge said Mei took advantage of a position of trust. She handed down the maximum sentence for the second-degree murder charge and added a year to Mei’s sentence for using the meat cleaver in the killing.

Mei had been a China Gourmet employee for three years. The defendant says he waited until after the restaurant closed that night to tell his boss he was leaving his job as a cook. He said Chan responded to the news with anger, name-calling and shoving.

In his closing argument in March, the prosecutor told the jury that Mei intended to kill Chan, because it was the defendant who grabbed the meat cleaver before he chased his boss toward the back of the restaurant.

SELF-DEFENSE CLAIMED

Mei claimed Chan had a small knife and cut his right shoulder before the restaurant owner chased the cook into the kitchen, where Mei grabbed the meat cleaver. Mei told police that he and his boss then wrestled over the meat cleaver.

The defense attorney argued that Mei was trying to keep himself alive.

Fischer argued that Mei had killed his boss in the process of robbing him. Authorities found Chan’s wallet inside Mei’s car after investigators seized the vehicle.

Sullivan said his client didn’t remember taking the wallet, which didn’t look as though it had been rifled through.

Blood was found throughout the car’s interior, but there was no blood on the wallet or $217 in cash and other contents in the wallet.

Investigators found nearly $1,600 in cash in Chan’s pants pockets and another $261 in a cookie tin underneath the restaurant’s front counter. The defense attorney argued there was no robbery, because Mei didn’t take all the cash.

The defendant owed Chan $800 and a co-worker $1,500. Police questioned Mei about his gambling habit; he went to gamble at a card game before returning to the restaurant to speak with Chan. Mei said he gambled to support his family.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Modesto restaurant cook to serve 16 years to life in killing of boss."