ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – A man charged with committing a fatal stabbing last summer has been sentenced to spend decades behind bars.
Last August, Kaw Tung was arrested for the murder of Stephen Tang, who was found with stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. According to the defense, Tang—who had pressured Tung to do “inappropriate things” on several occasions—refused to pay money that he owed Tung. Tung then entered Tang’s room with a kitchen knife while the victim slept.
Tung pled no contest to the stabbing in January. On Tuesday, he appeared in court again for sentencing.
Defense attorney Jen France asked the court to sentence Tung to 15 – 40 years in prison, which was at the lighter end of the recommended sentencing range. France detailed Tung’s youth in Burma, where children were taken by soldiers and “trained to be killers.”
“Thankfully, Kaw was able to escape to Malaysia before killing was an everyday part of his life,” she said. “… He changed his name when he got to Malaysia, then sought and gained refugee status in the United States.. To be trained to kill just because you have the right or are able to kill will mess with your mind. He felt his roommate had wronged him.”
Judge John Economopoulos stated that while Tung’s difficult past “was not lost” on the court, the greatest injustice in the case was the loss of Tang’s life.
“You mentioned that you left your homeland to escape civil unrest… but you were unable to escape the unrest within yourself when you brought murder to Delta County,” Economopoulos told Tung. “It is my hope as a judge and my prayer as your fellow man that the emotion you showed when you learned that Mr. Tang was dead will soften your soul to produce a wiser and more peaceful man who understands that there is no escape from the unrest of the world until it is extinguished from within yourself.”
Tung was sentenced to serve 22.5 – 80 years in prison for second-degree murder. Tung intends to appeal the court’s decision, requesting that an attorney be appointed to his case.
