Charlie Tan was charged with the murder of his father but the case was dismissed. Later, he pleaded guilty to gun charges related to the case.
In February 2015, Charlie Tan, a student at Cornell University, was arrested and charged with the murder of his father, Jim Tan, in their family home in Pittsford, New York. The case drew significant media attention due to the nature of the crime and Charlie’s background as a seemingly well-adjusted college student.
During the trial, the defense argued that Charlie had been defending his mother from his father’s alleged history of domestic abuse. However, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, and the judge declared a mistrial. In a surprising turn of events, the judge then dismissed the murder charge against Charlie, citing a lack of evidence to prove he had committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This decision meant that Charlie could not be retried for his father’s murder due to double jeopardy.
Despite the dismissal of the murder charge, Charlie’s legal troubles were not over. In 2018, he was arrested again, this time on federal gun charges. The charges stemmed from the acquisition of the shotgun used in his father’s death. Prosecutors argued that Charlie had convinced a friend to purchase the shotgun for him, which he then used to kill his father. This act constituted an illegal “straw purchase.”
In October 2018, Charlie Tan pleaded guilty to the gun charges, admitting that he had lied during the purchase of the shotgun and that he had influenced his friend to make the purchase on his behalf. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for the gun charges. The resolution of the gun charges provided some closure to the case, although the exact circumstances surrounding Jim Tan’s death remain a subject of speculation and discussion.