Murder Charges Filed Against Pang Lawyer Objects, Says Deal With Brazil Violated

Over his lawyer’s objections, Martin Pang was arraigned Friday on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson in a warehouse fire that killed four firefighters.

Defense attorney John Henry Browne objected to the murder charges, contending they aren’t allowed under the United States’ extradition agreement with Brazil. He declined to enter a plea for Pang on those counts.

Pang, 40, fled to Brazil after the fire at his parents’ frozen-food warehouse on Jan. 5, 1995. He was returned to Seattle last week.

Browne pleaded innocent to the arson charge on Pang’s behalf, and King County Superior Court Judge Brian Gain entered innocent pleas for Pang on the murder counts.

Pang, looking somber, stood next to Browne during the brief proceeding and said nothing. Pang wore a white shirt designating him an ultra-security inmate, and Browne said there was a bulletproof vest beneath it. He said he and Pang have both received death threats, but declined to go into detail.

Bond was set at $5 million.

Pang was returned to Seattle almost a year after his March arrest in Brazil, where he fled to avoid prosecution.

Local and federal prosecutors spent much of the past year wrangling over the terms of his extradition.

Pang was charged last year with four counts of first-degree murder and arson in King County.

But arson deaths in Brazil are not considered murders if the fire was not intended to kill, and the Brazilian Supreme Court initially ruled that Pang could be extradited only to face a first-degree arson charge.

Last month, the Brazilian high court published its final extradition order, which a Brazilian justice ministry official interpreted to mean that Pang could be tried on arson and second-degree murder charges.

The State Department filed a motion last Friday asking the Brazilian Supreme Court to clarify its ruling on Pang’s extradition.

Browne contends the Brazilian Supreme Court’s decision needs no clarification, calling it crystal clear. Pang cannot be tried for murder, said Browne, who filed a motion objecting to the four first-degree-murder counts Friday in Superior Court.

“It may be crystal clear to John Henry Browne, but it isn’t clear to anybody else,” King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said at a news conference after the arraignment.

Maleng said he charged Pang with arson and murder, despite the “ambiguous” ruling from the Brazilian Supreme Court, to keep his options open. He wouldn’t say what would happen if Brazil’s clarification rules out the option of murder charges.