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After telling his private lawyer that he’s broke, Sui Kam “Tony” Tung will be represented by veteran defense attorney Robert N. Kalisch of the county Public Defender’s Office.
A judge in Hackensack yesterday gave Kalisch four months to begin preparing his case.
A plea bargain was unlikely: Bergen County Prosecutor John L Molinelli’s has instituted a policy of not offering them in murder cases.
Tung, 51, has remained held on $3 million bail since detectives arrested him at his Yorkville apartment May 4, 2012, more than a year after Cantor was found in the basement of his Teaneck home. Cantor had been shot and his Elm Avenue house set on fire.
Cantor and Tung’s estranged wife had been dating while both were in divorce proceedings, and Tung had confronted Cantor at his house more than once, authorities said.
Tung began stalking the popular Verizon software engineer after learning of the romantic relationship in 2010, as both couples were being divorced, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time.
A few months before the killing, he said, Tung went to Cantor’s house and demanded to know where the two had sex, the prosecutor said. So Cantor brought him to a bedroom in the basement, where his body was later found, Molinelli said.
Tung showed up again the night of March 6, 2011, the prosecutor said. After shooting Cantor several times, Tung set the house on fire, he said.
An expert in computer repair, Tung then erased the hard drives on all of his computers, among other measures, to destroy evidence, he said.
He was arrested 14 months later and charged with two counts of murder, aggravated arson and desecrating human remains, among other offenses.
STORY / FILE PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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