http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16570774.htm

It has been nearly six years since a bizarre murder plot tore apart the Hsu family of San Jose. On a February weekend visit home from college in 2001, 18-year-old Patrick Hsu noticed an odd toy robot dog that had been mailed in a box weeks earlier. His father had opened the box, then set the contraption aside when he noticed it needed batteries to function. Later, Patrick Hsu placed batteries in the robot -- triggering a hidden bombing device that killed him. This week, one of the alleged participants in a scheme targeting Hsu's family goes on trial in federal court in San Jose after years of legal sparring. David Lin, a Milpitas engineer accused of shipping the robot dog in the mail, faces life in prison if convicted of killing Hsu. But the central figure in a case that has spawned an episode on ``America's Most Wanted'' will be nowhere near the courtroom. Anthony Chang, a Las Vegas man charged with masterminding the plot as an act of vengeance against his estranged wife, remains a fugitive who is thought to be living in Venezuela and outside the reach of U.S. authorities, court records show. Chang's role will still be front and center in the trial, however. Lin's lawyers make it clear that they will argue Lin had no idea what was in the fatal package and was an unwitting dupe in Chang's plan to harm someone in the family of Wendy Hsu, his estranged wife and Patrick Hsu's sister. Lawyers picked a jury last week and will make their opening statements to the panel today.

``The only issue is, did David Lin know what was in the package or not,'' said Daniel Blank, Lin's lawyer. ``He didn't. They are going to say he did.''

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Shoemaker, the lead prosecutor in the case, declined to comment. In court papers, the government says there is ample evidence that Chang told Lin what was in the package and that he followed instructions to mail the robot dog to the Hsu's San Jose home. In one recent document, prosecutors outlined an exchange between Chang and a former girlfriend who is on the government's witness list.

``Chang told his then-girlfriend that the defendant knew there was a bomb in the package and that he had instructed the defendant how to handle the package to avoid leaving fingerprints on it,'' prosecutors wrote.

Patrick Hsu, a freshman at the University of California-Santa Barbara, was away at college when the package was mailed to his home. Prosecutors say that Chang hatched the plot over his rocky relationship with Wendy Hsu, and made threats against her and her family before the fatal incident. Police first linked Lin to the robot bomb when the package was traced to a Milpitas post office. Court papers show they also questioned Chang at various times, and he claimed he didn't send the package but ``may have provided information to others that caused the bombing to occur.'' As the investigation was unfolding, Chang quit his job at the Primadonna Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and skipped the country, days before he was formally charged. Lin's lawyers say the government botched the case, ignoring evidence that Chang was preparing to leave while they focused on Lin's role in the crime.

``He filed a change of address form, and they still didn't arrest him,'' said Blank, an assistant federal public defender.

Chang apparently has not been hard to find -- defense investigators found him in Venezuela. But Venezuela does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, and government officials declined to comment on the effort to return Chang for prosecution. Chang is a Venezuelan citizen, making it even more difficult to secure his extradition, according to lawyers familiar with the case. Meanwhile, Lin is on the hook for the killing. Until last year, federal prosecutors were pursuing the death penalty against him, but Lin's lawyers persuaded the Bush administration to drop that part of the case. Chen Hsu, Patrick's father, did not respond to an interview request. But he has told the Mercury News in past interviews that his son was popular, an Oak Grove High School graduate whose death rocked the family.

``How could this happen?'' Hsu said days after the incident. ``No one can handle this.''

The trial is expected to take four to six weeks in U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte's courtroom.

It was quite a weekend. My mom's Lexus was hit in the parking lot on Friday. I was getting conflicting reports on the severity of the damage. My sister claimed it was just a small bump. My mom said it was more like a foot wide. The picture's up so see for yourself. Looking at it, I'm just not sure how it happened because the eyewitness said the car in question, a large SUV, was parked in the stall next to the Lexus and did the damage as she was leaving. I would understand if the car backed into the bumper but not if the car was next to my mom's. I'd know, I've done it.

Just to balance out the bad news, I've posted Kelli from Christmas with her new dog from babystyle. Poor Hello Kitty in the background. I didn't get to see her this weekend since I was with friends on Saturday. With Datman and Paul, we were to meet Hai and Claire in Alameda for sushi. Things didn't go exactly as planned. We made it but they didn't. Westbound 80 was closed due to a multicar accident. A car eastbound went out of control and jumped the center divider. This had to be tough because the westbound lanes are elevated above the westbound lanes. In any case, the endgame was a trip to Cache Creek where I managed to get a free drink. I paid for my $6.25 drink with a $10 bill. The waitress gave me back $13. Realizing her mistake, she puts down the original $10 bill, took back the two fives she gave me and left, leaving me with my $10 bill.

Those who went can answer me this: there were 2 trays of ribs left, right? When I opened my trunk, all that was left was the potato salad.

More random questions: Why is UPS using a song by the Postal Service. And where did McDonald's dig up Ben Seaver to do a commercial?

Since last I wrote, I've seen 3 great films that are worthy of Oscar nominations (announced tomorrow at 5:30 am). Children of Men imagines the world where no one is under the age of 18 and women can't give birth. When a pregnant woman suddenly appears, it's up to Clive Owen to transport her safely to an independent group that will (hopefully) raise the child and give civilization another chance. Otherwise, she'll fall in the hands of the government (too busy with controlling society) or to activists who will use the baby to lead a rebellion. It's a simple movie filled with thought-provoking questions and reflections on where our own society may one day lead. The handheld scenes following the two out of the internment camp is just edge-of-your seat stuff.

Little Children is a character film that works on so many levels. Admittedly, some of the material may shock and awe, but the multitude of stories are very interesting and engrossing from an unhappy Kate Winslet having an affair with a fellow unhappy father (seriously, who cheats on Jennifer Connelly?), to Jackie Earle Haley's creepy sex offender role and the actual little children themselves. Then there was Letters from Iwo Jima, a technically well-done piece of filmmaking from Clint Eastwood. He supremely portrays the honor of the Japanese as they fought a losing battle to hold the island of Iwo Jima based on a few letters found in the caves where they held out for 5 days under American fire. Through a proud General who had lived among Americans to a simple baker who wanted to be home, these stories, along with Flags of Our Fathers, show us the humanizing qualities of both sides, a departure from American war films of the same period.

There's still plenty of movies to watch before 2006 is wrapped up but here is the annual summary for the movies I've seen so far. The count is currently 35. Movies I hope to see follow.

4 stars
The Departed
Children of Men

3.5 stars
V for Vendetta
Stranger than Fiction
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Children
United 93
Letters from Iwo Jima

3 stars
Casino Royale
The Devil Wears Prada
The Da Vinci Code
Jet Li's Fearless
Lucky Number Slevin
Snakes on a Plane
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

2.5 stars
The Break-Up
Fast Food Nation
Friends with Money
The Guardian
Inside Man
School for Scoundrels
Scoop
The Sentinel

2 stars
Clerks 2
Deja Vu
The Last Kiss
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Superman Returns

1.5 stars
The Good Shepherd
Miami Vice
Mission Impossible III
X-Men 3

1 star
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Scary Movie 4

0.5 star
Firewall

0 stars
Date Movie

A partial list of what's left to see from 2006:

The Queen
Letters from Iwo Jima
Babel
Little Children
Volver
Blood Diamond
Curse of the Golden Flower
Rocky Balboa

The Illusionist
This Film is Not Yet Rated
World Trade Center
The Black Dahlia
Thank You For Smoking
Sketches of Frank Gehry
Sherrybaby
Trust the Man