Raytheon murder case goes to trial
Published on February 25th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - One of the area's most unusual murder cases is headed to trial soon. The case of the murder of Sang Lam, a Stoneham resident and an employee at Raytheon Co. in Tewksbury, will be placed in front of a judge on March 23.
Lam, who lived in a Franklin Street condominium, was shot six times in his car after he left work, back in November l996. Police believe that Lam was gunned down around 6 p.m., shortly after he exited the plant. Raytheon security personnel did not discover his body until approximately 6:30 a.m. the following morning.
Police have charged 26-year-old Khai Le of Alhambra, California with Lam's murder. They believe that Le killed lam in a rage of jealousy having to do with Lam's ex-girlfriend, Mallory Johnson. Tewksbury police flew to California to question Le after he was positively identified on tapes provided by Raytheon surveillance cameras. Surveillance tapes at Raytheon's Lowell plant captured Le, who had initially stopped at the plant searching for Lam. When Le was in-formed that Lam no longer worked in Lowell, he was directed to the Tewksbury plant.
When Tewksbury Police Det. Sgt. Dennis Peterson and Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Thomas Sullivan questioned Le, he denied traveling to Massachusetts. A search warrant of Le's house later turned over clues fingering him as the suspect. Le also surrendered his gun, which police believe was used in the murder, after checking with the state of California's fire-arm registry.
Last week, Le's attorney requested a motion to suppress at a preliminary hearing. He claims that Le did not understand his rights when read to him by California police. He is alleging that he felt that he had no choice but to talk to police, and was not aware of his right to remain si-lent.
According to Peterson, "Part of that motion to suppress was that he felt he was forced to come to the Alhambra Police Department." Peterson said that he read Le his rights and asked him if he understood them. He said that Le responded yes and he signed a document alleging that he was aware of his right to remain silent. Peterson said that he finds it hard to believe that Le did not understand what he was read. "He is an intelligent guy, he graduated from UCLA," he said.
Peterson also attested that Le lied to them consistently throughout the investigation. He said, "He lied during the interview saying that he was never in Massachusetts. We did not in-form him of the surveillance tape until the interview was over. When he saw himself on the tapes, he changed his story and said he was in Boston looking at colleges." Peterson noted that at no time was Le forced to answer questions by police.
"He tried to commit the perfect crime," Peterson said. Apparently, Le used a highly ad-vanced gun that does not leave identifying marks on its bullets. However, laboratory results could still match up the gun because of distinguishing marks left by the barrel.
Le is now being held in jail in Cambridge. The trial is slated to begin on March 23 at Cam-bridge Superior Court. Assistant District Attorney Gerard Leone will prosecute the case against Le. Leone recently prosecuted British Au Pair Louise Woodward in one of the na-tion's most talked about trials.
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