Esmie Tseng

Case identity

Name: Esmie Tseng Age: 16 at the time of the incident Role: accused

Background

Esmie Tseng gave her mother an anklet that she made on 9 August last year, the day she wrote her last online diary entry. She was described as a 16-year-old honour student from Overland Park, Kansas, who was ranked among the best classical pianists of her age in the state and who competed in athletic meetings and was on the debating team. Local father Jacob Horwitz described her as “a kid any parent would be proud of”.

Esmie Tseng’s writing and relationships were portrayed as involving high parental standards set by her mother and father, Chinese immigrants. She wrote that her parents threatened to sell her piano if she did not win a state-wide competition and that they grounded her for scoring only 96% in an exam. She also wrote that when she disappointed them, they forced her to stand naked in a corner.

Esmie Tseng was said to have trouble coping with her feelings for her parents, especially her mother. In her writing she expressed hatred toward them, and after Jacob Horwitz read her weblog, he considered it a “cry for help”.

At a temple service in late July, Rabbi Neal Schuster encountered Esmie Tseng for the first time. Schuster said that “It was clear something was going on with her,” adding, “She wasn't crying, but you could just tell. If you can read people, you can tell.” Esmie told the rabbi that she was running away from home and said that she had heard voices that told her to blow out the candles. Police later took her home at that time.

Esmie Tseng’s father, Tao Tseng, pushed for her case to be tried as an adult rather than a juvenile. He sought that change over two months, was absent from the first hearing, and attended subsequent court appearances. Family friends described him as leaning on a cane on the bench.

The offence

Ten days after she wrote her last online diary entry, Esmie Tseng stabbed her mother to death with a knife in an incident that took her and her mother through several rooms of their home. The killing occurred on the 5600 block of West 125th Street in Overland Park, in a quiet Blue Valley neighborhood.

Shu Yi Zhang was 55 at the time she died. Investigators stated that Zhang died from multiple stab wounds, and publicly made limited details suggested the crime scene spread through several rooms. A prosecution narrative also reflected that the levels of violence were “about as serious as it gets,” in the words attributed to the district attorney.

Investigation and arrest

On 19 August 2005, police found Esmie Tseng at the scene and she was taken into custody. On that day, she was detained in connection with the death of her mother, Shu Yi Zhang, 55, who died from multiple stab wounds.

Officer Catherine Kamler of the Overland Park Police Department’s Juvenile Unit arrived at a temple to take Esmie home after Esmie said she was running away from home; she could not have known that she was returning Esmie to the house where she would be arrested on 19 August on charges of first-degree murder in the death of her mother.

Trial

Esmie Tseng pleaded guilty in an adult court to voluntary manslaughter on 6 March 2006.

The prosecution and defence agreed to recommend a sentence of 100 months at her sentencing trial on Wednesday, and it was stated that the judge was not required to accept the recommendation.

District Court Judge Brenda Cameron was identified as the judge who would sentence Tseng on the Wednesday referred to in the sentencing coverage.

Before the guilty plea, Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison filed a motion to try Esmie in adult court. The move was described as allowing her to spend years in prison rather than a few years in juvenile jails.

Sentencing

Esmie Tseng was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison on 3 May 2006.

At sentencing, both sides were described as recommending that Judge Brenda Cameron sentence Tseng to eight years and four months in prison. It was stated that without the plea agreement, Tseng faced the possibility of a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Appeals

No appeal outcome was stated.

Other legal context and custody details

Human rights campaigners argued that minors should receive treatment appropriate to their age and culpability. It was said that in juvenile court, confinement could continue only until age 23, and that adult trial was sought to guarantee “significant” time in prison.

Research was described as finding that she was not eligible to be placed in a juvenile detention centre because she was over 15 at the time she committed her crime. It was said she was likely to be sent to the Topeka Correctional Facility for Women, and that she would be the youngest prisoner there at 17.

Rick Buehler, head of staff training at the Topeka prison where she was likely to serve time, said there were no separate facilities for minors there and that staff would be concerned about someone so young.

Aftermath

Esmie Tseng was released on 1 October 2012.

While in detention and following the stabbing, several accounts described correspondence and visits by Amelia Mallett’s mother, Dr. Nancy Tilson-Mallett, and that she accompanied Esmie during physical and psychological tests. Dr. Tilson-Mallett said toxicology from the day of Esmie’s arrest came back drug-free and discussed adolescent brain development in explaining impulsivity.

Esmie’s supporters described fears for her safety in adult prison. Tilson-Mallett said Esmie felt people looked at her as a murderer and that Esmie said she did not know how the stabbing happened but felt people would think of her as evil.

Esmie wrote a letter stating, “To the people in the morning sipping their coffee or eating dinner with their dysfunctional families, I'm just another kid who's screwed up,” and continued:

“They'll shake their heads. They'll make a decision that I should rot in here or I should be let off, then move on while I'm still in here. While you're all shopping with your friends or watching a rented movie on DVD, I'm being tortured by my thoughts and all of the obvious memories and just being in here.”

Dr. Nancy Tilson-Mallett also wrote back to Esmie:

“You're not evil. We believe in you. We just have to get you some help.”

Esmie had written further diary and blog content before the killing. Her online writing included the following verbatim statements:

• On a post dated February 9, 2004, she wrote: “The human race DOESN'T CARE if you as an individual just up and choke; the earth doesn't care,” and also: “The human race is doomed. Everything and everyone is temporary ... Go ahead and try to win a religion argument, DOESN'T MATTER whether you're right or wrong because you are still going to die. You won't find shit out even when you die. "Either this is all or somewhat true," she concluded, "or I am fucking screwed and may as [well] start packing for Hell right now.”
• In a post dated January 30, 2004, she wrote: “I need someone to please tell me how to shut up this brain and the thoughts that won't leave me alone. I need someone to please tell me how to sleep soundly through the night without waking up seven or eight times in the span of six hours. I need someone to please tell me how to sleep.”
• After her mother threatened to sell her piano during an argument, she wrote:

  “IT DISGUSTS ME THAT YOU WOULD TRY TO HURT ME LIKE THAT. SELL MY PIANO? Sell my fucking piano?”
  “IF YOU SELL MY PIANO YOU BETTER BE PREPARED TO USE THAT NUMBER TO SOCIAL SERVICES, BITCH. I wish I believed in hell.”

• In a diary entry dated February 1, 2004, she wrote: “If you've never seen me cry, it's not because I hold it in. It's not because I suppress my inner depression. It's not in me. I don't get sad. I stay calm, no tears. I get angry. Maybe it will come kick me in the ass later, but I don't deal or cope with these type of feelings like expected.”
• She quoted lyrics from the band Silverstein: “I close my eyes and I can see you dead.”

At the temple, Rabbi Neal Schuster told her: “Do you need to talk to somebody?” and Esmie responded: “Yes, she told the rabbi, she did need to talk.”

Other details

Court hearing dates and legal representatives

Esmie Tseng was described as having first public court appearance on 13 September at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe, Kansas, with attorney Robb Edmonds representing her.

A later court hearing was described as taking place on 13 September, where Esmie’s supporters were present. Another court appearance was described as scheduled for 18 January, with his wife due to give birth around that time.

A separate reporting said her next court appearance would be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, 13 September, and that it was open for the public. Another reporting stated her next court appearance would be on Oct. 12, where a date for the waiver hearing would likely be set.

People and roles named in connection with the case

• Shu Yi Zhang (55): victim; Esmie’s mother; died from multiple stab wounds.
• Esmie Tseng (16): accused; later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
• Jacob Horwitz: father of three; described as a supporter and a leader of a group seeking to keep the case in juvenile court; he was quoted saying, “It's humiliating and hard for a 16-year-old to be shackled like that when so far she's not convicted of anything,” and also: “Who knows what damage that might do to her? She doesn't have a true understanding of the consequences yet or what's happened. She's confused.”
• Tao Tseng: Esmie’s father; sought adult-division trial; described as absent from Esmie’s first hearing and attending later appearances.
• Paul Morrison: Johnson County District Attorney; described as pushing successfully for adult trial and quoted as saying: “Given her capacity to be violent... one could certainly argue that she is the one to be feared,” and: “Hacking somebody to death with a butcher knife is about as serious as it gets. Even though everybody agrees she had been cruelly treated by her mother, it does not remotely excuse the level of violence.” He also said: “In juvenile [court], there was no guarantee she wouldn't be released in six months. With the adult system, it's different. She has to do 85% of what she is sentenced to.”
• Robb Edmonds: attorney for Esmie; described as attempting to persuade that the case stay in juvenile court and as recommending factors to convince the judge.
• Brenda Cameron: District Court Judge.
• Catherine Kamler: Overland Park Police Department Juvenile Unit officer.
• Neal Schuster: Rabbi at Temple B'nai Jehudah who encountered Esmie before her arrest and said: “It was clear something was going on with her.”
• Alison Parker: senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York; quoted describing juveniles tried as adults and punishment should be commensurate with the offender.
• Rick Buehler: head of staff training at Topeka prison; said there were no separate facilities for minors and staff would be concerned about someone so young.
• Dr. Nancy Tilson-Mallett: internal medicine practitioner; sought medical power of attorney for Esmie and said toxicology came back drug-free and discussed adolescent brain biology.
• Abigail Chang: former president of the Greater Kansas City Free China Association; suggested counseling hotline and stressed communication.
• Johnny Kung: president of the Chinese Club of Greater Kansas City.
• Jinsong Zhang: president of the Kansas City Chinese Network Association.

Descriptions of Esmie's public life and school

Esmie Tseng played the piano for 10 years and was involved in school athletics and debating. She participated in gifted program activities and was an honour roll student. One statement said she would be entering her junior year in high school shortly before the stabbing.

Details about community response

The case drew attention in Overland Park and the surrounding community. BVN opened from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday to offer counseling services, and on Monday teachers read a statement to their students. Mentions also described visitors and online discussions, including a group called Friends of Esmie and petitions seeking to keep the case in juvenile court.

Medicines, drugs, and toxicology

A number of personal accounts described drugs being used by some teenagers in Esmie’s later school environment and included mentions of ecstasy, mushrooms, acid, and marijuana, as well as self-medication by friends’ statements. Dr. Nancy Tilson-Mallett said that Esmie’s toxicology from the day of her arrest came back drug-free.