Paul, Weiss Wins Release of Pro Bono Client Who Served Nearly Nine Years Beyond Lawful Sentence After Murder Conviction Vacated

Following a three-year effort by the firm’s attorneys, Paul, Weiss secured the release of a pro bono client who had served over 27 years in prison, including nearly nine years beyond his final sentence after a judge vacated his felony murder conviction.

The release came after the Paul, Weiss team successfully petitioned the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to recalculate our client’s sentence to account for the years he spent in state prison beyond his final sentence after a judge correctly vacated his murder conviction.

Our client, Tak Sun Tan, and his family fled violence in their home country of Cambodia, resettling in the United States when Tan was seven years old as lawful permanent residents.

In 1998 Tan and two other individuals were convicted in California Superior Court of felony murder under the “natural and probable consequences” theory for the 1996 high-profile robbery and killing of Dr. Haing S. Ngor, the Oscar-winning actor in The Killing Fields. Tan was sentenced on the state charges to 56 years-to-life in prison. Separately, he was convicted in 1999 of federal robbery charges for an armed robbery that occurred in 1995, for which he was sentenced to approximately 13 years in federal prison.

In 2020, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge vacated Tan’s felony murder conviction after the California legislature passed a new law, SB 1437, that prevented defendants from being charged with murder under the “natural and probable consequences” theory, in cases where the defendant was not the actual killer, had no intent to kill, or was not a primary participant in the underlying crime.

The court granted Tan’s petition, filed by former public defender, Jonathan Cruz, observing that there was no link between Tan and the murder weapon, no evidence placing him where the shooting took place, and no indication that he knew that lethal force would be used in the robbery. Tan was resentenced on the remaining robbery charge to approximately 16 years, but by that point, he had already served over 24 years in state custody. He was released from state prison to immediately begin serving his federal sentence.

Paul, Weiss was retained in early 2021 to petition for Tan’s timely release. Although Tan had served over eight years in state custody beyond the duration of his final state sentence, the Federal Bureau of Prisons did not credit this time when calculating the duration of his federal sentence. Paul, Weiss attorneys requested an administrative remedy to properly apply time credits to his sentence under the federal criminal code, which requires a defendant be credited for time spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences. In 2022, the Bureau of Prisons agreed, recalculating Tan’s sentence to account for the uncredited time and revising his release date to July 2023.

As Tan prepared for his release, he was notified that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had begun removal proceedings against him in anticipation of his release from federal custody. Paul, Weiss secured the assistance of Martin Rosenbluth, an immigration attorney specializing in defending detained persons in deportation proceedings, who successfully petitioned for the deferral of Tan’s removal under the Convention Against Torture.

Tan was finally released on January 17, after serving over 27 years in state and federal custody.

The Paul, Weiss team was led by litigation partner Randy Luskey and associate Cole Rabinowitz, and included Rosie Vail and several other current and former lawyers at the firm.