ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A federal judge has denied the request for a reduced sentence made by Charlie Tan and his legal team.

Tan’s attorney’s applied for a corrected sentence based on claims that his initial defense attorneys were ineffective during his initial trial by not providing the court with documentation about Tan’s abusive household and how that abuse may have influenced his actions.

In a Tuesday ruling, Hon. Frederick Scullin Jr. — a Senior United States District Judge based out of Syracuse — denied that request

Tan pleaded guilty to weapons charges in 2018 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence with three years post-release supervision.

In 2019, Tan admitted to killing his father in an attempt to reduce his sentence on the federal weapons charges. His father, Jim Tan, was shot and killed in his Pittsford home in February of 2015.

Charlie Tan was initially charged with murder for his father’s death, but the charges were ultimately dismissed after a judge declared a mistrial in November of 2015.

A prosecutor’s appeal for a new trial was unanimously dismissed by the Supreme Court of the State of New York’s Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department in March of 2017.

Then, in September 2017, Charlie Tan faced new federal weapons charges, in connection to the gun that was used in his father’s death.

Charlie Tan would later plead guilty in that case and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence with three years post-release supervision.

In the affidavit where Charlie admitted to killing his father, he detailed multiple instances where he witnessed his father abuse his mother during his life. He explained how things began to worsen once he started his educated at Cornell University, away from home.

He said he checked with his mother multiple times discussing everyday matters, to the concerns of her safety. On Feb. 4, 2015 Tan wrote that his mother indicated the “next time” his father would kill her.

“I knew that in killing my father I would be throwing away my future, but I wasn’t thinking of that after the February 4 call. I did not think past getting a gun, shooting my father, taking my mother to Canada and fleeing to China. I knew that killing my father was wrong but in my own mind I felt I had to do so to protect my mother,” Tan wrote.

According to Charlie’s affidavit, he followed the advice of his lawyers in the past and denied shooting his father.

“They [attorneys] advised me not to admit that I shot my father. They were the legal experts, and so I accepted that strategy, even though I knew what I had done was wrong.”

Hon. Frederick Scullin Jr., a Senior United States District Judge based out of Syracuse, ruled Tuesday that Tan’s sentenced would not be reduced or altered.

Judge’s ruling

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