Kiss everything goodbye or how about running out of time or this one, ive lost hope. By the way, these are not you dont need to get a restraining order. These are end of the month political fundraising emails come from committees or individual candidates. I have to say very quickly, mr. Salizza i have so many of them. My inbox it obviously works but its like to me, i throw them away. They are jokes. I used to. I would be like wait a minute. Thats not like they do it so it feels i know. Just like getting mail where they try to get you to open it this is important. Along for the nigerian principle. I miss the nigerian prince pills. Donald trump and Hillary Clinton will make an appearance i learned that he was arrested. I was shocked. I was just so confused. I didnt think it was real. I didnt think it was possible. In the rarefied world of the ivy league, they was total pa athlete, wildly popular. He was one of the nicest guys. No one could understand how a weekend visit to his parents house did you say you heard a shot. Ended in gunfire. Charlie told the officers outside he was going to kill my mom, i had to do it. Yes. A harrowing story, but was it true. Hes seat bed hind a desk . Defenseless really. This seems to be an execution. Was this campus hero actually a coldhearted killer. The defendant sends an email to his Fraternity Brothers call called show time. Or was the truth completely different . One of the things that was always a question was was charlie covering up for someone else . A trial where nothing went by the book. Three of the jurors were crying really hard. Their seats getting emotional. They see whats coming. He was becoming unhinged. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with house of secrets. Chai you ga lake in new york, and where youll find one of the most prestigious . Hail, oh, hail cornell. More than 13,000 graduates will take their places in the law, the arts, medicine. Only the best need apply. Students like charlie tan. He was so kind, his High School Video random acts of kindness giving gifts to complete strangers. Not just a great kid but the greatest of great kids. Charlie was the son of chinese immigrants who became mr. Everything in his high school year. Scholar athlete, class president , the guy with the cool friends Anna Valentine opened up her parents summer lake house to charlie and her own teenaged pals. He was happy and energetic. The room and tells jokes . Everybody knows him. The room lights up he starts telling a funny story. So youd think charlie tan was another ivy league overachiever poised for takeoff and great things to come. But thats not this story. This is about the charlie tan, keeper of secrets and quite possibly something much worse. He was so excited. He was super happy. So in thefall of 2013, charlie tan left his parents home near rochester, new york, and drove the few hours to cornell. His exciting new chapter in a life already filled with early achievements. He pledged a frat, he wasnt big enough for cornells Varsity Football Team so at 165 pounds he was directed toward what they call the sprint Football Team. I had just gotten my locker and charlie was one of the first people i met. Quarterback rob pinolo. One of the most encouraging team players we have. Leader of the team by example and his words. They he was selfless and generous. Charlie impressed his teammates and his coach. Thor are i cullen coaches the lighter always a smile never late, hard worker, good kid, solid. Go back to thes now the rochester suburbs where charlie grew up in his teenaged years. Its called pittsford new york and this newspaper man knows it well. A very nice community. Big lawns, nice cars in the garage. Big house, lots of executives from kodak and xerox and charlies parents lived in canada before moving charlie and his brother to upstate new york. His dad ran a tech business that thrived. The home just radiated upper middleclass comfort. His friends anna had been there on occasion. I went over to his house. I didnt know his parents very well. I talked to his mom a couple times but i didnt have much conversation with them when we were there. Little was known about his parents and charlie didnt offer details if someone asked. If he had secrets, sorrows, they know about. Hes very good about keeping his emotions in. I didnt know what the home situation was like. I didnt know then and i dont know now. Other than a few 911 dispatchers and a few town officers, the wider community, the friends of charlie tan, certainly, knew nothing about the whispers of Domestic Violence on placid coachside lane. Hes a very stoic individual. Its a tough part of his life. House was known to authorities. Go back to cornell. Its the winter of 2015 and charlie is now a sophomore. On a chilly thursday morning, he stopped in unexpectedly to visit his football coach. There is a softer side to this coach than drills an xs and os and his kids know hell always be there for them. Our rule is if you have a problem come on in and close the door. If you need somebody to talk to, were here. Now it was charlie who needed a shoulder or something. I said how are you he said good but i cant make weightlifting on friday. I said whats the problem . He said ive got to go home. Charlie seemed emotional. Clearly something was eating at the student. I asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk about and he declined. He just said he had to get home. It wasnt spring break, classes were in session, but charlie got in his car and started the drive to pittsford 100 miles away. Coach didnt know that charlie tans life as a student at we didnt worry about charlie, charlies very squared away. Got his act together. Knows what hes doing. Only charlie tan wasnt at all okay. It snowed that night. A muffling blanket, covering the home where something awful was about to happen. Why did charlie need to rush home . When we come back, the first clue, coming from a friends mom who called 911. He didnt give us a lot of details. Im just worried that heig and then charlies mom makes a 911 call of her own. Did you say you heard a shot. Yes. Does somebody in the house have a gun . Our bacteria familys been on this cushion for generations. Alright kiddos everybody off the backpack, we made it to the ottoman. I like to watch them clean, but theyll never get me on the mattress finally theres a disinfectant mist designed for sofas, r. Its innovative cap has a 2x wider spray that kills 99. 9 of bacteria. Max cover is another great way to lysol that. I tried hard to quit smoking. But when we brought our daughter home, now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Take one of those pillows and take a big smell. They smell really fresh. What if we told you we washed these sheets 7 days ago. Really no way downy . Downy fabric conditioner. Give us a week, and well change your bed forever. Want more freshness . Add new downy fresh protect. What do you look for in an antiperspirant . Advanced care . This is very very smooth. I am not messing around its soft. Your antiperspirant should give you more. Than just protection. Try dove advanced care. For softer, smoother underarms. . . One day a rider made a decision. The decision to ride on and save money. He decided to save money by switching his motorcycle insurance to geico. Ride proud. Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. But grandma, we use charmin ultra soft so we dont have to wad to get clean. Charmin ultra soft gets you clean without the wasteful wadding. It has comfort cushions you can see that are softer. And more absorbent, and you can use up to 4 times less. Are you frustrated with how clear windex makes your windows . Introducing. Schmindex look windex makes glass too spotless and too dangerous. But shmindex makes it dirty shmindex. Order yours today because im a woman. Do you think im gonna crack under pressure day with always infinity. Made with flexfoam. Absorbs 10x its weight. When charlie tan left cornell and made the 100mile trip on a winter morning, his football coach knew hed been upset. I asked him to call me when he got home just so i knew he was okay. And that very evening back spent time at an old friends house where he seemed to his pal deeply despondent, sad, possibly depressed. Not the charlie hed known since childhood. After charlie left, the friend and his mother were so concerned they called 911. Was charlie suicidal . He didnt give us a lot of details. Im just worried that he might do something at his house. I dont know if anythings going to happen but i i just cant take a chance. Have them go to that house and check on him. And a deputy did just that. Detective steve peglo of the Monroe County sheriffs office. Charlie told the deputy he was upset and he came home to talk to people and he was just working out some things and he would be okay. It was now late thursday night, almost the weekend. Charlie didnt go back to School Friday morning and come monday he wasnt at practice. There wasnt much i could d didnt respond. And then it was monday night, something awful. 911, what is the address of the emergency. Yes. Hi. The call sore distraught confused the dispatcher. My name is jean tan. I just i heard an argument and my my son was talked to my husband. Maam, i cant understand youre saying. Does anyone need an ambulance . It was jean tan, charlies yes. Does somebody in the house have a gun . Now the garbled story was coming into focus. Shots fired, the husband, the man of the house was dead. My husband is dead. Whos already dead . My husband. Your who . My husband. Are you in a safe spot . Yes, i am. We need you to wait outside of the house for the Police Officers safety. Detective peglo was soon on route to he still had only a garbled account from the 911 call. Who had shot whom. He was trying to protect me. Your son was trying to protect you . Yes. It looked like it was what we call domestic murder. It was had something that just occurred. On arrival, the first deputies on the scene saw a young man who would turn out to be 19yearold charlie tan standing in the driveway with his mother. Theyre outside the house . Outside the house. Deputies. No reason to go in. Let the people go out. They asked who else was in the house. In the next moments the deputies heard the son tell a story that sounded like selfdefense. He had to shoot, he said, to save his mother. He used a shotgun. Charlie said my dads in there, hes dead, i had to do it. He was going to hurt my mom. The father is shot because the boy feels his mothers in jeopardy. Yes. T the deputies put the son and his mother in a patrol car. They asked where the shotgun was. After securing the weapon, the detectives made their way into the house. They found their victim. The father is behind the desk, spent shotgun shells are in the doorway area. The detective would learn more about jim tan, father, husband, and businessman. He owned his own company, they had lived in canada and moved to the United States some by all accounts, yes. But was the successful businessman an abuse i husband . Detective peglow looked around the household. They came upon an appointment card for jean tan to appear at Domestic Violence court so the working theory, justifiable homicide, made some sense. But detective peglow was no rookie. His investigation into charlie tan and what happened inside that home was just getting started. One of the investigators found what appeared to be newly taken passport photos along with a list of prominent local Defense Attorneys. Thats interesting. Yes, sir. His story is i had to do it but youre not taking that at face value . Correct. Coming up, a discovery on jim tans computer triggers suspicions about his time of death. How many days prior is the last email check . You can get a free wisconsin state id. Before the next election. To get your free id, head to the division of motor vehicles. And take a few documents with you announcer proof of your name, date of birth and us citizenship, like a certified birth certificate. If you dont have a birth certificate or other documents, the dmv can still help you get a free id for voting. For a complete list of the documents you can use, visit bringit. Wisconsin. Gov. Neighborhood but no one heard the shotgun blast that killed jim tan. But this wasnt a who done it. The son admitted he did it to protect his mom. Receiving defense is what well listen to. If thats what happened, the law whether bear that out. We wanted to speak to him to determine that. That same night, charlie and his mother were taken down to the station to tell their stories. Statement from the son charlie . His lawyer would not allow us to speak to him. His lawyer was on scene . His lawyer was on scene a few minutes after me. Without the cooperation of the admitted participants, the mother and the son, the detectives were on their own. It turns out a very large piece of evidence was waiting to be found right there in their very office, a federal court the house on coachside lane. 911, whats the address of the emergency . Just two weeks before the shooting, Police Records show the wife placed another 911 and my husband just beat me up, i need your protection. Are you injured. Yes, im he choked me and im so scared. Please. Do you want an ambulance . Oh, hes coming. No. Please come. Please come. The dispatcher heard what sounded like an ongoing fight between husband and wife. Hello . Sorry, yes. No, no yes, sry its all right. My wife is probably upset at me. Help me help me you choked me. Dont be childish, its all right. A deputy was sent to the house and noticed jean tan, the wife, was clearly rattled. Reporter john hand of rochesters democrat and chronicle newspaper. They found jean was still upset, she had some red marks on her neck but that there wasnt with a crime. So incident over . That night. He tried to kill me but nothing results in terms of charges or into the paperwork. Correct . So a history of abuse, it appeared. If that were the case, charlie told no one in his circle at cornell university. Up on campus, coach cullen hadnt heard from charlie in days and now his phone rang. Campus Police Called me up and asked me to come to his fraternity house, which i did. Charlies father had been killed. It was rugged. Weve got a bunch of players in the fraternity and everybody was obviously very upset. Charlie admitting hed shot his father to death. I think it was probably disbelief more than and shock that this occurred. We had a team meeting about it but immediately after, there support. From the getgo, there was no debate. The entire frat and team had charlies back. Not just the Football Team but everybody on cornells campus that he knew well was showing support for him. Everyone was always trying to help him and ask if theres anything we could do for him. To his friends at home there was shock, of course, there, too. And, yet, the heartbreaking story of charlie tan protecting his mom by any means necessary made some kind of weird sense. Was always trying hard to help. People talk about him being selfless. Yeah. Lives to help other people . He would do anything for people. Close friend anna had a hard time wrapping her head around charlie doing anything violent. The charlie she knew was a thoughtful kid who did things no ordinary teenager did. My mom went through cancer and he was always there, he brought her, like, gifts and stuff so he was always there supporting anybody. So anna, too, would be there difficult time. A friend to the end. Neither she nor anyone else could have guessed where the investigation was heading next. That the detective whod examined the scene that night was wondering if there was more to the story. It was all obvious right away that something was off with the working theory of the crime. A heat of passion selfdefense homicide. We were there for hours searching every bit. One of the things noticed by one of the invga you know, the dried blood that was all over. Dried blood, the timeline, and the whole story, in fact, demanded a closer look. Its certainly one of the things that starts to get your attention that, okay, hang on, there might be more, lets make sure were on the right path here. And there were other observations that set their timeline back. On jim tans desk computer where hed apparently been working when he was killed there were unopened emails going back before the weekend. Jim is trading some emails stops using his computer. He is no longer sending and hes no longer opening. And as detectives poked around that Office Monday night how many days prior is the last email check . Four. Four days . That was really a big thing for me. This was a guy that ran his own company with employees and with activity. Going back four days, that put the shooting back to that thursday night charlie came home from cornell. And a fourdayold crime scene would also exn plainly obvious to the seasoned detectives nose. The odor of decomposition was very strong. The detective now believed that emotional 911 call was bogus. A charade. Did you say you heard a shot. Yes. His mother was in peril and he had to shoot the husband but youre saying this might be days earlier . A whats going on here thing . Correct. That first inference from the 911 call and from what charlie deputies seemed to be in confrontation with what we were starting to see inside. Down at the sheriffs office, jean tan, the mother, was released from custody. But not charlie. The 19yearold ivy leaguer was charged with Second Degree murder. What did you think, anna . I was shocked. I was just so confused about i didnt think it was real. I didnt think it was possible. Charlie tan, the nice boy, the great kid if convicted was facing 25 years to prison. Coming up, store video shows the gun that killed charlies father being purchased. But its not charlie buying it. New name all together here . Correct. And then the strange thing charlie did just before his mom placed the 911 call. The defendant sends an email to his Fraternity Brothers called show time. Time. U seen all the Amazing Technology in geicos mobile app . Mobile app . Look. 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Cleans so well, it keeps your underwear cleaner. So clean. You could wear them a second day. Charmin ultra strong. Its 4 times stronger, and you can use up to 4 times less. Enjoy the go with charmin. You know your heart loves megared omega3s. And your joints really love them too . Introducing megared advanced 4in1. Just one softgel delivers the omega3 power of two regular fish oil pills. So give your body mega support Anna Valentine was in a state of disbelief when she learned her close friend charlie tan had been arrested. Did you have a chance to talk to charlie himself . He called me on the phone from jail so i talked to him a couple times. Anna didnt sit around. She was going to do whatever she could to defend her friend because she knew there was no way charlie did anything wrong. You did something remarkable, anna. You sort of pulled tet yeah. Anna started a defense fund support page for charlie. It spread crazy. I had no clue what would happen. So you just spread it out there on the net. I put it on the page and told my friends i did it. People i hadnt heard of were supporting him. Everyone was doing. It how much money did you raise . Around 50,000. Why did people come out of the woodwork to support charlie. Everybody knew that and wanted to do whatever they could to give back to him. Charlie would give back to other people. If somebody needed anything he would give it to them. Reporter john hand was working nonstop on one of the most talkedabout stories the county had seen in years. So now its an investigation, great Ivy League Kid blows away his father in this nice neighborhood. Whats going on . We were astonished. Its not very often you have a murder suspect who a people from pittsford are rallying around. The case captured the hearts and minds of a community that couldnt imagine this exceptional young man in prison. And these are lawyers and surgeons and political king i mean, these are big powerful people in new york state who are behind this kid. Oh, yeah. We wish that didnt happen but the kid deserves a break . Is there some of that feeling around . Oh, yeah. The Community Felt that very to prove founders in an odd spot. The biggest problem was the defendant himself because he did appear to be an upstanding nice young man. Monroe County District attorney sandra doorley. From the very beginning people were disappointed that, you know, an indictment was filed against charlie tan and that we were taking this to court but you have to prosecute people who violate the laws of our state. The case in court. He told the jury that, yes, charlie tan was a high achiever, a bright young man who always went the extra mile for his friends. And perhaps he wanted to succeed as charlie tan and solve all the problems that were occurring on coachside lane. Helping his mother . Helping his mother. By killing his father. That was the solution. That was our theory, yes. The gun is found at the murder scene. His fingerprints are on the and charlie saying he had to do it. But did he have to do it . That was the key question. And the prosecution said no. This was no justifiable homicide. This was an execution. In fact, the weapon had been bought just for the killing. Deputies traced the gun and discovered it had just been watt om so we sent investigators down there and as they began to look into that they found the gun had been purchased by a young man named whitney knickerbocker. Newly purchased . Newly purchased. A new name all together. Correct. The transaction had been purchased the same day charlie left cornell. The salesman remembered the purchase and even better they had the Surveillance Video of charlies friend and fraternity video which was shown to the jury. Whitney knickerbocker was never accused of having everything to do with the killing. Charlie apparently convinced him to help buy a gun. Friends say whitney was told by charlie that he was going to go on a hunting trip to so he asked whitney to help him. Of course, the prosecution says there was no hunting trip. Charlie was planning a murder. Before he got the friend to buy the weapon, Surveillance Footage getting one. Hours earlier, there was charlie. Charlie tan is on video going to the walmart attempting to purchase the shotgun. He is unable to. Why is he turned down . Hes a canadian citizen. Which meant there would be a waiting period. Time the Prosecutor Says charlie tan didnt so he gets a friend to come in and make the purchase. That was our theory, yes. Its hard to put together a heat of passion scenario, moms in jeopardy, if you purchased jury there was no evidence of a fight. If you look at the exact moment of the killing, jim tan is just sitting at his desk. Doing business. Answering emails. Answering emails working to provide a living and a pretty good living for his family. In fact, the medical examiner testified that as jim tan sat behind his desk in his home office he was shot three times about the left and face. The last medical examiners believe jim tan was alive when that was inflicted right to his face. The prosecutor believes that was thursday night, the same night one of charlies friends sent a deputy to the tan home to check on charlies welfare. Its possible that when the boy answered the door and said he was fine his dad was already dead inside. But no one from the tan home called 911 that night. Rather, says the prosecutor, charlie and his mom grabbed their passports and fled the country. The country, went to canada and came back on that monday before the 911 call was placed. So why come back and tell a lie . The prosecution didnt know. A guess, perhaps someone had to run jim tans business. And this last tidbit, creepy, implied the state. Before that four days light 911 call was placed, charlie took the time to send a warning email to his pledge buddies. They would soon hear things in the news. The defendant sends called showtime. Youre going to be hearing from Law Enforcement . Yes, yes. You will be surprised, showtime. No jurors, dont buy selfdefense, said the prosecutor in summation. This was no crime of passion, it was a planned murder. So this is an assassination. Yes. He walks in and blows dad away. Exactly. The prosecution rested. Head spinning theory of the crime from seemingly another universe. No one saw it coming. Coming up, the defense drops a bombshell. One of the things that was always in question of ours was was charlie covering up for someone else . And then the prosecutions stunning reaction. He picked up the shotgun, he moved quickly across the room. When dateline continues. Polo marco. s . . Polo polo scusa . Ma io sono marco polo, ma. Marco. playing marco polo with marco polo . Surprising. 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No you all smell wonderful i smell bad if youre a parrot, you repeat things. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. It was an upside down world in this courthouse where youd routinely expect lots of supporters for the victim, there were none. There was no one mourning the victim. The victims assistance from the District Attorneys office, i sat with her the whole trial because she had nothing to do. Apparently some people think this vicious father, the victim, deserved, got what was coming to him. Oh, yeah. People that normally wouldnt advocate homicide who did it then he did it and that his father deserved it. But the accused . His girlfriend and friends crowded outside the courtroom every morning, surrounding him protectively as he walked into court. He had all but a cheering section with pompoms. I think it meant everything. I think having all the support made him feel so much better, so much stronger. I think he knew we were all there for him no matter what. His friend anna was on the witness list so she wasnt allowed to sit inside the between classes for the rest of. It how did he seem to you . How was he putting up with it . Some days were harder than others, some days he seemed good. Charlie would sit in court while his defense would build a case with evidence that seemed to support Domestic Violence. Played that tape of jean tan calling the cops two weeks before the shooting. Hi, name is jean tan and my husband just beat me up, i need your protection. Are you injured . Yes, im he choked me and defense attorney james nobles thought the 911 recording spoke volumes about that household. It was almost as if we were put in the hell that charlie lived in for a brief moment and the hell that jean lived in for a brief moment. And they kept piling on. Jim tan, continued the defense, wasnt just a bully at home. His employees testified about the abuse they, too, encountered in the workplace. Every other person who worked with jim tan said he was a child, said he would bully people, said he was nasty at work. So a son defending his abused mother was a defense nobrainer strategy that seemed to require little assembly. The other defense lawyer, brian dekarlis. I think most people that looked at this case said the only defense is selfdefense or some hybrid of a battered child syndrome. But that wasnt what the defense team planned. Our strategy was to keep our strategic defense in our back pocket hitten from the prosecution as long as we possibly could. So what was the secret defense . They were going to agree with the prosecution on one point that whencalled 911 to report her husband dead, it was days old. Question about it. Not only was the mom lying to 911 about when the murder occurred. No, argued the defense, she was lying about something much bigger. Who the true killer was. The defense attorney saved his surprise for closing arguments. It was an unusual moment because certainly i knew there were many friends and supporters of jean tan in the courtroom and i was going to basically suggest to these jurors that she had pulled the trigger. Jean tan, the mom, the wife, the true killer. The defense said the shotgun was in h solved her own problem, not her son. That was the story the defense saved for the 11th hour. Not an easy thing to do in a packed courtroom. According to the defense, it was jean tan who had the motive, the motive to get rid of her bully husband, get the house, the business, the money. Frankly, it put motive in jean tans category more so than and whatever little evidence there was was incon cluesive. There was a fingerprint on the shell casing. Charlie could have loaded the gun but not pull the trigger. As the defense saw it, the mom did it theory explained the odd email charlie sent his frat brothers before the 911 call, the email called showtime. The email implied the story to come might not bt the real one. It went on to say this. The real truth will come out one day and youll kno one of the thing that was always a question and a concern of ours was was charlie covering up for someone else . In acourt, assistant prosecutor bill gargan appeared caught off guard and stressed when he rose to make his closing argument. He addressed charlie directly. He said something to the effect of charlie, your lawyer is calling your mother a killer. He picked up the shotgun, moved across the room, approached the jury closely with it. He was trying to make a point, a very passionate point. As a prop didnt sit well with judge piampiano who hold the prosecutor to calm down. Frankly, we knew at that point we had done exactly what we had wanted to do, we had totally taken him by surprise. After a week of testimony the case went to the jury. In the hallway, tv cameras dogged charlies every move. Hed been on bond the entire time but his freedom could be coming to an abrupt end. His knows his life is hanging in the balance. Thats a tough thing for anybody to go but he had the unwavering support of team charlie. They all waited with charlie as the deliberations began, then spilled over into a second day. And then another. Everyday wed show up to court being like, oh, is it going to happen today . Everyone was super nervous like on the edge of their seats the whole time. I knew charlie was, i knew i was. Because if it goes in an adverse way for you and charlie you wouldnt see him for a long, it was hard to imagine that. Jennifer mcguff was a juror, she walked us through what they talked about. Im not sure anybody felt sorry for jim tan, but the way he died was still a crime. Both the prosecution and defense agreed charlies fingerprints were on the ammo. Did he pull the trigger or load the gun and give it to his mom and say here you go . That was the biggest point of contention. She was ready to vote guilty, but the panel of 12 was far from unanimous. More day eight people guilty, four people not guilty. A stalemate, an impasse seemed to be at hand. But still they talked. Three of the jurors were crying. Really hard. Because they didnt want to think that he was guilty but they couldnt ignore it at that point. The local media asked prosecutor bill gargan for updates. I dont have experience with a jury out this long nor do my peers. On day eight, after 50 hours told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial. That didnt mean it was over for charlie by any stretch. No, it just meant there was a long road ahead. Charlie, a few words about how youre feeling right now . A long road with another trial, another set of court dates, another jury to go through the same set of facts unless that wasnt what was going to happen at all. Coming up, an entire courtroom gets the shock of a lifetime. Theyrect around in their seats, theyre getting emotional. They see whats coming. As charlie tan awaits his fate, the proceedings threaten to spin out of control. He was becoming unhinged. The judge in the tan murder case declares a mistrial. Even though the case was over for now, the charlie tan mistrial was big news in rochester. They could not come to a consensus regarding the murder charge against charles tan. Everyone was talking to the media including judge state supreme court, and spoke to our affiliate whec tv. Would you preside as judge again . I believe i would because the case had been assigned to me. Thats the normal protocol. The lawyers on both sides shared thoughts about doing it all over again. Its a murder charge. Its not a petty larceny charge with a hung jury where you walk away from it. Rerecognize the d. A. s office isnt going to walk away from a homicide. From your perspective, how will it look differently . Better. For me. Thats how it will look unfortunately for charlies attorneys, theyd already played their surprise defense mom really did it. There would be no shock value in a second trial. Frankly, weve got to face this like its a brand new case starting today. Hung juries are a situation where you have to reinvent the wheel. Last november, just weeks after the trial ended, both sides were back in the same court before the same judge, judge piampiano, who just two days earlier had won that state it was a routine hearing to talk retrial logistics you were setting a calendar date . We figured maybe a january date. Reporter john hand was there, too. There was a number of charlies friends there, myself and roughly four or five other reporters who covered the trial, the gangs all here. And the judge said we have to address the motion for dismissal by the defense. Its still spending. Thats a common motion made by most Defense Attorneys when they asked ask a judge to throw evidence. You always do it. Its frankly malpractice not to. Everyone thought this would be an order of business quickly dispatched and the judge would move on to setting a new trial date. Then he starts talking about the lack of evidence regarding the possession of the gun and charlie ever having the gun, lack of evidence that the fingerprints were found on the shells upstairs but didnt look like he shot it. I looked at another reporter and charlies lawyers had a glimmer about where this was going. I leaned into charlies ear and i told him something good is about to happen. The assembled press couldnt believe where the judge was heading. Youve been in courts for years, john, how unusual is this . Yeah. I look over and the friends of charlies are looking at each other, theyre turning around in their seats, getting emotional. Everybody is sensing this. Youre holding your breath and youre going hes about to dismiss this case, the biggest case weve had in years and years and years. 50 hours, a Second Degree murder case. Assistant prosecutor bill gargan saw the train wreck ahead and wasnt at all pleased. He grabbed the mike. Can i speak . The judge very quickly said no, you may not. Bill gargan continued to speak. The judge said ill put you in handcuffs. The judge to the District Attorney . Yeah. Never seen that before. Youre out of line here. And a court deputy walks up behind bill gargan, the he was interrupting, he was becoming unhinged. I felt bill felt it incumbent to be heard. Which would be fine except that you have to let the judge finish what hes saying. After the dramatics with the prosecutor the judge did finish his thought. He threw out the entire case against charlie tan. A judicial ruling that meant the case couldnt be reprosecuted or retried. It was a big win for charlie tan. He was ecstatic. Outside the courtroom, the media w the former defendant who hadnt yet spoken to reporters. Now youll talk to us right. Back up, back up, please, please. And before we got a chance to talk to him his defense lawyerished him down a hallway. What did you think . Did you take it all in . Im not sure how he did. Im not sure i took in the at first. That this is over . It was super exciting. Everyone was so happy. Everyone was in tears. Not quite everyone. Assistant d. A. Bill gargan was absolutely. I was more than willing to have handcuffs placed on me to argue my point because i didnt cross any lines. So charlie tan is free. Thats it. Theres no appeal from this trial order of dismissal because there had not been a verdict by the jury. The event didnt happen. Correct. But months later, the d. A. s office did file an appeal asking a higher court to reverse the judges decision. They admit its a legon tan you had to cynically wonder whether the sons vocal supporters carried the day from outside the courtroom. Youre talking about the division in the community. I guess some of them think the golden ivy league boy was able to kill his father and get away with it. There iss a question of what does affluence buy you in a courtroom. Strange story, the whole thing. Yeah. Charlies mother, according to the District Attorney, will not be prosecuted because theres never been any evidence to show she is responsible for the murder. I look at a 12gauge shotgun, she was a small woman, i dont know if she was capable of even being able to discharge that kind of weapon. So the only two people who know what happened in that house charlie and his mother have stayed mum. Neither was interviewed by police, neither has spoken publicly about a case closed but far from resolved. People will say this is a kid who killed his father and got off and people will also say no, it isnt, they couldntro back there who said i dont care what happened, im never sending this 19yearold cornell student to prison. The mom and brother are running the company jim tan started. As for charlie is he okay, do you think . He seems okay, hes very positive. Wants to get back to school. Hes a great kid, a smart student, a popular kid whos done well and succeeded in all elements hes been in. Time to move on now. We welcome him back with open arms. But that didnt happen. The university let charlie know to cornell it was prepared to discipline him for violating the schools code of conduct. So charlie withdrew and lost the cornell version of the goldplated entrance ticket to adult life. His former coach thinks charlie will regardless find a way to succeed. If he can get over the turmoil that he came out of, i think hell do fine. Hes got everything going for him. In his young life, hed pleased everybody. His coaches, his teachers, his outwardly happy, inwardly, who really knew . All one can say with any certainty are the known facts of a murky case. He got a friend to buy him a shotgun, said goodbye to the ivy league, and, on a winters day, drove home. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Announcer the following is a paid program for home standby generators, brought to you by Generac Power systems. [ wind howls ] when the power goes out, even if its just for a few hours, life is disrupted. Even weeks, life can be unbearable. No heat, no airconditioning, no refrigeration. Phones and internet stop working. And for some, no running water. All of the necessities of modern life. Gone. The power was out in this area for approximately 2 1 2 weeks. We were out of power for about four or five days