Arraignment delayed in killing of taxi driver

Sue Doyle

NEWPORT BEACH--A judge Friday refused to lower the bail for one of two

taxi drivers accused of fatally shooting a friend last month inside a cab

near the Newport Pier.

An attorney for David Keum Yung Ji, 53, of Anaheim asked Superior Court

Judge Craig E. Robison to reduce the bail from $250,000 to $100,000.

In denying the motion by defense attorney Jeremy Goldman, the judge said

that Ji allegedly committed the crime while on probation.

Ji and Chae Jung Han, 53, of Garden Grove have yet to enter a plea to

murder charges in the death of taxi driver In Hyang Beck, 55, of

Westminster.

They appeared briefly in Harbor Justice Center for arraignment, but the

hearing was continued to June 23. Both men remain in Orange County Jail

on $250,000 bail each. No bail reduction was requested for Han.

Authorities arrested Ji and Han on April 26 in what police allege was

originally a suicide pact among the three men.

Police said the men, all depressed over recent financial problems,

discussed suicide while they drove around Orange County and drank

alcohol.

One of the men brought a handgun along on the ride. Sometime during the

day, the trio stopped and purchased bullets, police said.

The taxi eventually pulled over at West Ocean Front and 24th Street near

the Newport Pier. Beck, who was in the front passenger seat, was shot in

the head at point-blank range, police said.

Newport Beach police Sgt. Mike McDermott said the triggerman has not been

identified.

At Friday’s court appearance, neither Ji nor Han looked at spectators as

they sat inside a holding cell, their heads hanging low.

Han’s mother, Koo Yoon Soon, sat in the audience and wept softly. She

tried to communicate with her son and walked over to the holding cell

with a knotted handkerchief in hand.

A bailiff shooed her away and Soon returned to her seat. She does not

speak English and declined to comment.