KINGMAN – The elderly man who allegedly used hot cooking oil and a knife during an attack on co-workers at the Sakura Sushi & Grill 14 months ago was facing an essential life sentence if convicted of attempted murder and assault charges. Instead, 71-year-old Kien Wong was released from the Adult Detention Center and set free in downtown Kingman early Friday morning.

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert ordered the defendant’s release Thursday afternoon after dismissing charges and the case against Wong. Lambert’s orders were based on an expert determination that Wong is unable to understand legal proceedings, assist legal counsel in his defense and is not legally competent to stand trial.

Some defendants declared unfit for trial in Arizona are placed for treatment to restore their competency. Psychiatrist Dr. Laurence Schiff, however, determined that restoration is very likely an impossibility in Wong’s case.

Public Defender Paul Amman has informed the Court that immense cultural differences and an extreme language barrier has left Wong in a frustrating fog of confusion. The language issue for the man who speaks “Fukienese”, a unique dialect from his hometown of Fuzhou in China, posed problems from the start of the case.

Initial police and medical responders, hospital personnel, investigating detectives, attorneys, jail and court staff and others encountered communication difficulty all along the way, which resulted in a succession of interpreters and translators becoming involved in the challenge.

Wong had been charged with two counts of attempted second degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault for the April, 2020 lunch hour bloodshed at the restaurant on Stockton Hill Road. The violence occurred inside the business that was shuttered to indoor dining, but was offering curbside pickup early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Police said both victims suffered burn injuries from the hot cooking oil and that one of them was treated for a knife laceration over the top of his head. Motivation for the attack was never clearly established by the investigation or legal proceedings, though an officer who used an interpreter in an early interview said Wong indicated he wanted to kill both co-workers and himself.

Dave Hawkins