Jury Commences Deliberation in Lam Murder Trial

An Orange County Superior Court jury Wednesday began deliberation in the murder trial of Minh Van Lam, a 21-year-old Vietnamese refugee accused of shooting to death his former Cal State Fullerton physics professor, Edward Lee Cooperman.

After two weeks of trial in a case that has drawn international attention, the seven-woman, five-man jury received its instructions from Judge Richard J. Beacom and retired to pick a foreman at 9:45 a.m.

Cooperman, 48, was shot once in the neck and bled to death in his university office last Oct. 13.

Lam told police he shot Cooperman but insisted that the gun fired accidentally as Cooperman grabbed his arm to show him how to aim it.

The prosecution maintains that Lam intended to kill Cooperman and put the gun in the professor’s hand to make it appear as if he had committed suicide.

Jurors were instructed by Beacom that the law does not require a motive to be shown for them to arrive at a guilty verdict, but that they may take into consideration the absence of a motive as favorable to the defense.

Defense attorney Alan May maintains that the prosecution showed no motive for Lam to kill Cooperman, whom he described as Lam’s close friend and benefactor.