The trial of Charlie Tan ’17, who was accused of murdering his father last year, will be featured in the NBC News program Dateline in a segment called “House of Secrets” on Friday at 10 p.m.
Democrat and Chronicle reporter Jon Hand, who wrote about Tan’s case and covered Tan’s murder trial, helped Dateline journalists prepare the story, according to The Ithaca Journal.
Tan was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after his father, Liang “Jim” Tan, was found shot dead in the family home in Pittsford, New York, The Sun previously reported.
Tan pleaded not guilty and received overwhelming support from friends and neighbors who raised thousands of dollars online to finance his legal defense, The Sun previously reported.
At his trial, Tan’s attorneys argued that his father had abused both him and his mother and that the prosecution failed to prove that Tan ever even held the murder weapon — a shotgun — according to The Democrat and Chronicle.
Tan’s trial began on Sept. 22, 2015, and after weeks of deliberation, Monroe County Court Judge James Piampiano declared a mistrial. At his hearing on Nov. 5, Piampiano dismissed the murder charge, claiming that not enough evidence had been presented to justify it, The Sun previously reported.
Tan has been a free man ever since but has decided not to return to Cornell, The Sun previously reported. Liang Tan’s murder remains officially unsolved.