to the United States. He first stood for federal trial in 1986 in New York, where he was found innocent of racketeering but convicted of conspiring to import and distribute heroin. At the 1986 trial, Tung's defense attorneys argued that Tung had been duped into murdering Liu by appealing to his sense of patriotism. Tung testified that he was following government orders to assassinate Liu. Following the trial in New York, Tung was extradited to California in March 1987 to stand trial for the murder of Henry Liu. Based on testimony that he had killed Henry Liu in the 1986 federal trial, Tung was ordered to stand trial in June 1987, with the actual trial commencing in March 1988, where despite his earlier testimony, he pleaded innocent to the murder charge. Tung testified during the trial that Chen Chi-li was relaying the order to kill Liu from Chiang Hsiao-wu, a "big boss," but he was found guilty of first-degree murder after just forty-five minutes of deliberation. Because Tung had been extradited from Brazil, he was not eligible for the death penalty. Instead, he was sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison, to run consecutively after the twenty-year federal sentence for drug smuggling charges. Tung was the only one of the six named conspirators to stand trial in the United States, despite State Department requests to have Chen Chi-li and Wu Tun stand trial as well. Tung later filed an appeal for his murder conviction and sentence, which stated that the trial court should have requested a manslaughter verdict rather than murder, as he was acting out of patriotism. The appeal was rejected and his sentence upheld in 1990. Summary of penalties Chen Chi-li, sentenced to life in prison (April 1985); commuted to 15 years and granted parole (January 1991) Wu Tun, sentenced to life in prison (April 1985); commuted to 15 years and granted parole (January 1991) Tung Kuei-sen, sentenced to 27 years to life in prison (May 1988); stabbed to death while in prison (1991) Wang Hsi-ling, sentenced to life in prison (April 1985); commuted to 15 years and granted parole (January 1991) Hu Yi-min, sentenced to 2.5 years in prison (April 1985); Chen Hu-men, sentenced to 2.5 years in prison (April 1985); after release, changed his name to Chen Yi-chiao () and later promoted to director of a Military Intelligence Bureau department Civil suit Liu's widow Helen filed a