Bail Set for Suspect in Tay Murder : Court: Fullerton youth believed to have been lookout during New Year’s Eve killing of honor student will probably be released on $750,000 bond within a week.

Kirn Young Kim, one of five teen-agers accused of killing Foothill High School honor student Stuart A. Tay, will probably be released on bond within a week. A judge ruled Thursday that Kim does not pose a serious enough flight risk to deny him bail.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Leary set Kim’s bail at $750,000. Attorney Allan Stokke said the 16-year-old Fullerton youth will have no problem posting property worth twice that amount to secure his release next week.

Fifteen people, including three of Kim’s relatives, on Thursday offered their Los Angeles and Orange county homes to secure the bond.

In a telephone interview Thursday evening, Tay’s mother said that the bail ruling only increased her pain and grief.

“I am just totally shocked,” Linda Tay cried. “How could he be let out? I would give double $750,000 to have my son back--are you kidding?

“I always thought we had justice, you know? (Now) I don’t know,” she added, sobbing. “In all of this, I just want justice.”

Police believe that Kim served as lookout while others beat Tay, 17, with baseball bats and a sledgehammer, then poured rubbing alcohol down his throat, taped his mouth shut and buried him in a Buena Park back yard on New Year’s Eve. Kim allegedly confessed that he was present when the other four suspects rehearsed the murder, according to a psychologist’s testimony during a hearing in February.

The February hearing was held to determine whether Kim should be tried as an adult. He and three other Sunny Hills High School students are scheduled to go on trial in September. A fifth student has pleaded guilty to the murder and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Prickett said Thursday that he may appeal O’Leary’s ruling, which would delay Kim’s release.

Ron Brower, an attorney representing defendant Mun Bong Kang in the case, said that he would file a bail motion within two weeks. Denise Gragg, the public defender representing Abraham Acosta, said that her client would not be able to post any significant bail.

Robert Chan, 18, the accused ringleader in the brutal killing and the only adult in the group, faces the death penalty and is not eligible for bail. Charles Choe, who has agreed to testify against the others, is also not eligible because he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Juvenile Court, where no bail is allowed.

In court Thursday, Stuart Tay’s first cousin testified that she had heard rumors at Sunny Hills High School that Kim and his family planned to escape to Korea if he was let out on bond. But O’Leary discounted the student’s testimony as unsubstantiated.

O’Leary seized the passports of Kim and his parents and barred the defendant from leaving the state if he is released. She also ordered him not to have contact with witnesses.

“Just to be with him, even a short time--that’s all (I want),” said Kim’s mother, Sook, shaking with emotion after the hearing.

Kim’s parents promised that they would not flee with the teen-ager to their native Korea, a concern also raised by Linda Tay in a letter to the judge.

“Do you understand that if the prosecution is successful, your son will spend the rest of his life in state prison? . . . Wouldn’t you do anything you could to prevent that?” O’Leary asked the Kims, who stood in the audience among two dozen other friends and relatives but did not speak under oath.

“I’m an American citizen. Korea is my background, (but) I have nothing there,” Sook Kim said. “This is my country. I’m going to keep him in this jurisdiction.”