UPDATE: Police won't release 911 calls on former custodial dad who killed mom (San Jose, California)

It's humanly impossible to do updates on all the dastardly dads that get posted here.

But this particular case demands an update. It involves a custodial dad, JIAN MING "NELSON" LIANG, who lost custody for child neglect. The child then went to social services before the mother regained custody. The dad, not being able to tolerate that, then shot the mother dead.

Now we hear that there's a skirmish over the 911 calls and whether they should be released.

http://www.mercurynews.com/hotjobs/ci_12875976?nclick_check=1

San Jose police deny request for release of 911 calls of murder-suicide

By Lisa Fernandez
lfernandez@mercurynews.com
Posted: 07/20/2009 09:26:58 AM PDT
Updated: 07/20/2009 10:01:47 PM PDT


San Jose police have denied a request to release the 911 calls stemming from a murder-suicide almost two weeks ago, when a woman called in panic to say she'd been shot by her ex-boyfriend.

In a letter to the Mercury News dated Friday, Police Chief Rob Davis said the department would not release the dispatch calls because the investigation is "currently ongoing," and "disclosure of the information contained in the records would only further victimize the family without any benefit to the public."

California law allows police to exempt 911 calls from public disclosure, because those calls are broadly categorized as part of a law enforcement investigation. But several other departments, including Santa Clara police and the Santa Clara County sheriff, release the information according to their policies.

On July 6, Jian Ming "Nelson" Liang, 39, drove up from Southern California, police say, and arrived at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Ying "Brandi" He, 35, firing a handgun. After chasing and firing at He's husband, Liang barricaded himself inside the townhome in the 900 block of Esfahan Drive, and held the mother of his child hostage. He killed the woman, who was a respiratory therapist at El Camino Hospital, and then killed himself, police said. The girl ran to safety. Shane Coffman, He's husband, escaped, but one of the bullets grazed him on an earlobe.
Coffman initially told the Mercury News he wanted police to release the 911 tapes. But last week, he said that he changed his mind, adding that he'd been invited to hear the dispatch calls in private — something he said he wasn't ready to do yet.

"Please understand and respect my position," Coffman said in an e-mail, adding that he had asked police not to make the calls public.

The Mercury News has challenged San Jose police to look at the department's previous attitude toward 911 calls. Earlier this summer, police argued against releasing calls stemming from a Mother's Day shooting, where officers killed a violent and mentally ill man who had attacked his brother with a knife. In that case, police and District Attorney Dolores Carr argued before a city committee with Mayor Chuck Reed present that the 911 calls should not be released before a grand jury hearing into the officers' behavior. When that hearing is over, Carr and Davis said they'd consider releasing the information.

In the July 6 case, Davis wrote in the letter that the Mercury News request was considered, along with the City Attorney's Office, "seriously and thoughtfully."

"It is not the department's intent to deny every request for 911 information," Davis wrote, "and we will continue to treat each request for public records on a case-by-case basis."