SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Four teenagers accused of killing an Orange County high school honor student in a scheme to steal computer parts pleaded innocent Monday in Orange County Superior Court.
Robert Chien-Nan Chan, 18; Kirn Young Kim and Mun Bong Kang, both 17; and Abraham Acosta, 16, entered their pleas before Judge Michael Brenner.
The four were indicted by a grand jury in March on first-degree murder and the special circumstance of lying in wait to kill Stuart Tay, 17, a Foothill High School student from Orange.
Chan and Acosta, who allegedly bludgeoned Tay with a baseball bat and a sledgehammer last New Year's Eve, also are charged with murder for financial gain. Authorities allege they took Tay's wallet and split the money inside.
Brenner ordered the defendants to appear before Judge Kathleen O'Leary on April 16 for a trial setting conference.
The teens allegedly killed Tay after learning that he had given them an alias during a plot to steal computer parts.
Prosecutors allege the teenagers lured Tay to Acosta's Buena Park home, clubbed him, poured rubbing alcohol in his mouth, taped it shut and buried him in a shallow backyard grave.
The suspects were students at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton.
Chan, the accused mastermind, could face the death penalty if convicted.
The other three teenagers will be tried as adults and could face life in prison without parole.
Charles Choe pleaded guilty in Orange County Juvenile Court in February and is expected to testify against the others. He faces a maximum possible term of custody in the California Youth Authority until he is 25.
