Ng sentenced to die

Charles Ng has been sentenced to die. He was found guilty of 11 counts of murder in February. On Wednesday he heard the sentence for those crimes.

The former U.S. Marine and son of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, was convicted of 11 of the 12 murders with which he was charged.

Ng was convicted of killing six men, three women and two baby boys during a murder spree in northern California in the mid-1980s. The jury was deadlocked on the 12th charge in which the body was never found.

Ng will be executed by lethal injection.

Throughout the trial Ng declared his innocence. When the prosecution showed videotaped evidence of Ng and Leonard Lake torturing and sexually abusing two women victims, Ng calmly told the jury he didn't kill anyone. He blamed Lake.

Ng testified he thought he was helping Lake make sadomasochistic videotapes and was simply following the other man's instructions.

Lake was arrested by police in San Francisco in 1985. He later committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill while police were questioning him.

Ng was with Lake just before he was arrested. Ng then fled to Canada and for six years battled against his extradition, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

The trial was delayed another six years by legal manoeuvres in the U.S.

The state of California estimates that prosecuting Ng cost more than $10 million, the costliest criminal case in its history.