A man accused of slaying three managers at a Santa Clara semiconductor firm in 2008 was found guilty today of three counts of first-degree murder.
Jing Hua Wu, 51, of Mountain View, was found guilty by a Santa Clara County Superior Court jury of the three murder charges and a firearm enhancement for the shootings at SiPort, Inc., on Nov. 14, 2008.
Wu killed SiPort CEO Sid Agrawal, vice president of operations Brian Pugh and human resources manager Marilyn Lewis after being terminated from his job as a testing engineer at the high-definition radio chip firm.
Following the verdict, the jury will now decide whether Wu was criminally insane when he committed the murders.
Wu’s defense lawyer, San Francisco civil rights attorney Tony Serra, said Wu’s upbringing in Communist China, beatings for association with a nationalist group, near-drowning water torture and other ordeals caused him to suffer from post-traumatic distress disorder, according to KTVU.com.
"His whole family would hide at home at night to escape the bullying," Serra told KTVU. "He grew up fearful, he grew up distressed. He grew up in a lifelong depression."
Mental illness runs in Wu’s family, according to reports, and he has been treated for depression and suicidal thoughts.
—Bay City News contributed to this article.
