On A Mission Of Murder
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Page Six
2003
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Page Six
2003
The prosecution began their questioning of me. I felt quite relaxed. The lead prosecutor was an older, heavy set woman of what appeared to be of Asian ancestry. I discovered very quickly that this was one shrewd attorney. I had instantly gained a lot of respect for her. She effectively closed off many avenues for the defense to pursue. The prosecutor asked if I had seen the Marines "CONFIDENTIAL" report that stated that Charles Chitat Ng never utilized violence to escape from his Marine guards.
I replied, “Yes, I’ve read and understood its contents.” The prosecutor then asked me, “In your opinion, Mr. Chapline, was it a mistake to have classified and treated Charles Chitat Ng as if he were a super-maximum prisoner?” I replied, “No, I still feel today as I felt back then, that Charles Chitat Ng is an extremely dangerous man. No one could mastermind and pull off an armory robbery who wasn’t extremely dangerous. Ng did not get his way in the Marine Corps, so he then resorted to, as an illegal alien, acts that are strictly forbidden by our society. I would have classified any ringleader of an armory robbery whether or not an Asian or illegal alien as nothing less than a super-maximum prisoner.”
As the prosecutor gently smiled at me, she then questioned me as to the allegations of Charles Chitat Ng being abused by not only myself, but, as well, the guards assigned to my detail at the Tripler Army Medical Center. I stated the following, “Concerning the incident in front of the Pearl Harbor brig between Charles Chitat Ng and I, I wrestled Ng down to the ground. I will admit that this was solely meant as an intimidation tactic. Charles Chitat Ng had verbally threatened to escape my custody. So, I decided to utilize a method that would put an end to his probable ultimate pursuit of escape. As far as this particular incident, Charles Chitat Ng brought this action on himself.”
I further said in my testimony to the prosecutor, “Yes, there were abuses committed against Charles Chitat Ng while he was at the Tripler Army Medical Center.” The prosecutor then asked me what, if any actions were taken on my part once these abuses were discovered. I replied, “I took quick and swift actions against those Marines who were involved in these actions.” The prosecutor then asked, “What do you mean, Mr. Chapline, when you say you took quick and swift action? Please be specific in your answer, Sir.” I then said, “If the court will excuse my language, I told them that if they were not perfectly squared away in their duties from here on out, I would kick their mother-fucking asses.” I then stated that there were no further incidents of abuse whatsoever on Charles Chitat Ng. Once again, the prosecutor smiled and nodded her approval towards me. She said, “No further questions of this witness.”
The defense then began their questioning of me. It would be that stuck-up yuppie bastard. I sensed a great deal of frustration from this lawyer. It was definitely pleasing to me. I privately thought, “Yeah, come on, big-shot, show me what you got now!" He only brought up the point of racism that Charles Chitat Ng had endured while he was a Marine and stationed in Hawaii. I stated, “I thought there was a certain degree of racism against Asian Americans on military installations in Hawaii. But, many servicemen suffered racism when they went off base. They did not resort to torturing and killing human beings.” I then said, “Charles Chitat Ng is a very intelligent, but dangerous man who is well spoken. He decided of his own accord to kill, to attain his desired status of infamous.“ I closed by saying, “I don’t think anyone, including you, Sir, as Ng's lawyer, would deny this."
Ng's lawyer told me abruptly, “Just answer my questions and keep your opinions to yourself.” I was now happy. Finally, I had become a hostile witness to the defense of Charles Chitat Ng. There continued to be silence in the courtroom. Finally, the Judge inquired, “Does the defense have any more questions for this witness? Again, there was total silence. The presiding judge then said quite loudly, “Does the defense have any more questions for this witness!” Ng's attorney just shook his head "no", and muttered a bit. I was then excused from the courtroom. I looked at Ng and his team of defense lawyers and gave them an in-your-face snub.
Several weeks had passed by since I had returned to Las Vegas. Of course, I was all over the local news relative to Ng's trial. I then received the news that I had been waiting for....Charles Chitat Ng had been awarded the death penalty by the trial’s jurors. I screamed, “YES!”
Later on I had said to my wife, “Charles Chitat Ng saw other human beings as having no value other than achieving his goals in life. When he didn't get what he wanted, and the way he wanted it, Ng went on his own mission of murder." I thought, “May the juice from the lethal injection that you receive at your execution give you tenfold the fright that any of your victims had to suffer through. Good riddance to you, Charles Ng, you no-count sonofabitch!!!"
I replied, “Yes, I’ve read and understood its contents.” The prosecutor then asked me, “In your opinion, Mr. Chapline, was it a mistake to have classified and treated Charles Chitat Ng as if he were a super-maximum prisoner?” I replied, “No, I still feel today as I felt back then, that Charles Chitat Ng is an extremely dangerous man. No one could mastermind and pull off an armory robbery who wasn’t extremely dangerous. Ng did not get his way in the Marine Corps, so he then resorted to, as an illegal alien, acts that are strictly forbidden by our society. I would have classified any ringleader of an armory robbery whether or not an Asian or illegal alien as nothing less than a super-maximum prisoner.”
As the prosecutor gently smiled at me, she then questioned me as to the allegations of Charles Chitat Ng being abused by not only myself, but, as well, the guards assigned to my detail at the Tripler Army Medical Center. I stated the following, “Concerning the incident in front of the Pearl Harbor brig between Charles Chitat Ng and I, I wrestled Ng down to the ground. I will admit that this was solely meant as an intimidation tactic. Charles Chitat Ng had verbally threatened to escape my custody. So, I decided to utilize a method that would put an end to his probable ultimate pursuit of escape. As far as this particular incident, Charles Chitat Ng brought this action on himself.”
I further said in my testimony to the prosecutor, “Yes, there were abuses committed against Charles Chitat Ng while he was at the Tripler Army Medical Center.” The prosecutor then asked me what, if any actions were taken on my part once these abuses were discovered. I replied, “I took quick and swift actions against those Marines who were involved in these actions.” The prosecutor then asked, “What do you mean, Mr. Chapline, when you say you took quick and swift action? Please be specific in your answer, Sir.” I then said, “If the court will excuse my language, I told them that if they were not perfectly squared away in their duties from here on out, I would kick their mother-fucking asses.” I then stated that there were no further incidents of abuse whatsoever on Charles Chitat Ng. Once again, the prosecutor smiled and nodded her approval towards me. She said, “No further questions of this witness.”
The defense then began their questioning of me. It would be that stuck-up yuppie bastard. I sensed a great deal of frustration from this lawyer. It was definitely pleasing to me. I privately thought, “Yeah, come on, big-shot, show me what you got now!" He only brought up the point of racism that Charles Chitat Ng had endured while he was a Marine and stationed in Hawaii. I stated, “I thought there was a certain degree of racism against Asian Americans on military installations in Hawaii. But, many servicemen suffered racism when they went off base. They did not resort to torturing and killing human beings.” I then said, “Charles Chitat Ng is a very intelligent, but dangerous man who is well spoken. He decided of his own accord to kill, to attain his desired status of infamous.“ I closed by saying, “I don’t think anyone, including you, Sir, as Ng's lawyer, would deny this."
Ng's lawyer told me abruptly, “Just answer my questions and keep your opinions to yourself.” I was now happy. Finally, I had become a hostile witness to the defense of Charles Chitat Ng. There continued to be silence in the courtroom. Finally, the Judge inquired, “Does the defense have any more questions for this witness? Again, there was total silence. The presiding judge then said quite loudly, “Does the defense have any more questions for this witness!” Ng's attorney just shook his head "no", and muttered a bit. I was then excused from the courtroom. I looked at Ng and his team of defense lawyers and gave them an in-your-face snub.
Several weeks had passed by since I had returned to Las Vegas. Of course, I was all over the local news relative to Ng's trial. I then received the news that I had been waiting for....Charles Chitat Ng had been awarded the death penalty by the trial’s jurors. I screamed, “YES!”
Later on I had said to my wife, “Charles Chitat Ng saw other human beings as having no value other than achieving his goals in life. When he didn't get what he wanted, and the way he wanted it, Ng went on his own mission of murder." I thought, “May the juice from the lethal injection that you receive at your execution give you tenfold the fright that any of your victims had to suffer through. Good riddance to you, Charles Ng, you no-count sonofabitch!!!"
Final Notes And Thoughts From The Author
February 2020
In the aftermath of my Marine Corps years, I've often times wondered, quite frequently during these close to forty years as a civilian, just why a Marine Corps base, such as the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii would suddenly decide it needed a specialist in managing and training a regional prisoner escort team. No other Marine base in the world had ever done anything like this? So, why did Kaneohe Bay?
Were Marine officials at Kaneohe Bay expecting a boom in military prisoners destined to do time at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas? If so, why?
For many years, I've never been able to ascertain anything.
But, there were disturbing hints and indications left behind. Because, I just knew something was not right. For instance, why did the position of Assistant Regional Director of Prisoner Security never have a director? And why, once I was relieved of this duty wasn't this position ever filled again by another qualified Marine? In fact, the office of Assistant Regional Director of Prisoner Security for the Far East region was located right next door to the offices of the commanding general. So why did this supposedly important position collapse after my departure? For, it is fact, this position was never opened up again. And even more disturbing to me, personally, I just recently discovered the Assistant Regional Director of Prisoner Security was a pseudo position that had never even been authorized by Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C..
But ironically, just recently, I came across a shocking article, of which I had no prior knowledge. It was written by United Press International (UPI) all the way back in 1985. In short it stated:
"FBI agents were investigating whether California mass-murder suspect Charles Ng was involved in the 1981 killing of the daughter of a reputed Hawaiian underworld figure. Jacqueline Ryder, 26, Honolulu, was fatally shot four years ago while working at her civilian job at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station, where Ng was stationed from 1979 to 1981. According to military documents, Ng often bragged about killing civilians and claimed he took weapons from the military for a Hawaiian organized crime syndicate."
There are apparently no follow ups to this news report and no way to confirm its veracity.
However, I have come to surmise that the general's office hired me with the assumption that some type of troublesome situation involving both Asian U.S. Marines and civilian workers was expected to explode on the base after the Ryder murder. But, nothing of the sort ever materialized.
It was no secret that an unnumbered portion of Asians on the Kaneohe base had a minimum of some type of connection and or ties to local gang / mob activity.
Couple this with most Asian American Marines on Kaneohe having guaranteed in writing on their enlistment contracts that the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station was designated as their home base for their entire enlistment. Many Caucasian Marines had hardline prejudices, including some of those who worked in the general's office. For, even they certainly resented this bonus being handed out to those of Asian descent.
Therefore, I do have cause to believe that the creation of my position was simply an "around the bend" anticipation by the general's office that a host of Asian Marines would at some point be caught up and prosecuted in connection with the Ryder murder. I was probably training additional personnel to be ready for this sort of contingency.
But, no one was apparently arrested for the Ryder murder, and I delivered Ng to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. The position of Assistant Regional Director of Prisoner Security for the Far East region then became obsolete.
Related Articles
Hawaii Marine Newspaper On The Ng Armory Robbery
static.dvidshub.net/media/pubs/pdf_19497.pdf
The life history of Charles Chitat Ng and accomplice Leonard Lake
murderpedia.org/male.N/n/ng-charles.htm
Hawaii Marine Newspaper On The Ng Armory Robbery
static.dvidshub.net/media/pubs/pdf_19497.pdf
The life history of Charles Chitat Ng and accomplice Leonard Lake
murderpedia.org/male.N/n/ng-charles.htm
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