USC professor Bosco Tjan. Photo courtesy of the university
A USC graduate student who allegedly fatally stabbed a psychology professor on campus last week pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a murder charge.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gustavo N. Sztraicher ordered David Jonathan Brown, 28, to remain jailed on just over $2 million bail while awaiting a Dec. 19 hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial on a charge that he killed Siaufung “Bosco” Tjan inside the professor’s office.
The murder count includes an allegation that Brown personally used a knife.
The stabbing was reported at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Seeley G. Mudd building in the 3600 block of McClintock Avenue, authorities said. Tjan, who was stabbed in the chest, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Brown was arrested without incident, according to the USC Department of Public Safety. He has remained behind bars since then.
“This was not a random act of violence,” according to a statement posted on the department’s website. “The Los Angeles Police Department believes this was the result of a personal dispute.”
The killing occurred on the final day of classes before finals.
If convicted as charged, Brown could face up to 26 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Hundreds of USC students, faculty members and administrators gathered in the center of campus Monday in remembrance of Tjan, 50, of Cerritos, who had taught at USC since 2001. Tjan leaves behind a wife and son.
“May each of us, as members of the Trojan family, resolve to bring comfort and support to his wife and child,” USC President C.L. Max Nikias said during the ceremony near the Tommy Trojan statue on campus.
Tjan was a training faculty member in the USC Neuroscience Graduate Program. He was an expert on perception, vision and vision cognition and helped found the USC Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, where he served as co-director, USC officials said.
“We’ve really lost an incredible mind and extremely generous person,” said Irving Biederman, Howard Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Image Understanding Laboratory. “You could not ask for a better colleague. He was brilliant, knowledgeable and helpful to others.”
—City News Service
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