Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Someone pleads guilty to first-degree murder

Brian Chang admits killing his mother in Solana Beach in 2010

Brian Chang - Image by Bob Weatherston
Brian Chang

This morning, October 7, in San Diego Superior Court, a Los Angeles man admitted murdering his mother in her million-dollar Solana Beach home nearly five years ago.

Brian Chang, now 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, premeditated and deliberated, in the death of Sherry Chu Chang, 60.

The body of Sherry Chang was found in her Solana Beach home.

Most of the woman’s body was found downstairs in her home in January 2010. Some of the victim’s skull was found in a bedside table upstairs, and other parts were found wrapped in plastic in her refrigerator.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“The balance of the allegations were dismissed in return for the plea,” said prosecutor Rachel Solov, in a statement released today. The district attorney’s office previously charged Brian Chang with special allegations of murder for financial gain, torture, and personal use of weapon during the crime.

(The spelling of the defendant’s name recently changed from Bryan Chenhua Chang.)

At a preliminary hearing two years ago, evidence suggested that a baseball bat may have been used to cause the fatal injuries found on Sherry Chang’s body. The medical examiner testified that dismemberment of the body had occurred after death.

Private defense attorney Kathleen Cannon will go forward this month with a sanity trial; the burden of proof rests with the defense in this kind of trial. Potential jurors will be asked to fill out a questionnaire, and this jury selection is set to begin October 17. Attorneys are predicting the sanity trial could last three or four weeks.

The defendant has undergone numerous mental competency examinations since he was taken into custody, two days after his mother’s body was found. He was arrested at his Santa Monica apartment.

At a prior hearing, sheriff’s investigators testified that Brian Chang told them he had some kind of mental breakdown, that he suffered “blackouts,” and that he had previously seen a psychiatrist.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Brian Chang - Image by Bob Weatherston
Brian Chang

This morning, October 7, in San Diego Superior Court, a Los Angeles man admitted murdering his mother in her million-dollar Solana Beach home nearly five years ago.

Brian Chang, now 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, premeditated and deliberated, in the death of Sherry Chu Chang, 60.

The body of Sherry Chang was found in her Solana Beach home.

Most of the woman’s body was found downstairs in her home in January 2010. Some of the victim’s skull was found in a bedside table upstairs, and other parts were found wrapped in plastic in her refrigerator.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“The balance of the allegations were dismissed in return for the plea,” said prosecutor Rachel Solov, in a statement released today. The district attorney’s office previously charged Brian Chang with special allegations of murder for financial gain, torture, and personal use of weapon during the crime.

(The spelling of the defendant’s name recently changed from Bryan Chenhua Chang.)

At a preliminary hearing two years ago, evidence suggested that a baseball bat may have been used to cause the fatal injuries found on Sherry Chang’s body. The medical examiner testified that dismemberment of the body had occurred after death.

Private defense attorney Kathleen Cannon will go forward this month with a sanity trial; the burden of proof rests with the defense in this kind of trial. Potential jurors will be asked to fill out a questionnaire, and this jury selection is set to begin October 17. Attorneys are predicting the sanity trial could last three or four weeks.

The defendant has undergone numerous mental competency examinations since he was taken into custody, two days after his mother’s body was found. He was arrested at his Santa Monica apartment.

At a prior hearing, sheriff’s investigators testified that Brian Chang told them he had some kind of mental breakdown, that he suffered “blackouts,” and that he had previously seen a psychiatrist.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader