Brad Horrigan/Pool Photos
The last time Parneeta Sidhu (pictured) saw Lishan Wang, he was shooting a gun, first at her husband, Dr. Vanjinder Toor, and then at her. That was more than seven years ago. The encounter was swift and traumatic. It upended her life.
Friday she made her first appearance in New Haven’s state Superior Court where she watched as Wang, her husband’s killer, was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Overall, this case that has rattled the criminal justice system.
Sidhu lived with her husband and their 3‑year-old son in an apartment at the Meadows condominiums in Branford. Dr. Toor had just left his home to go to work at the Yale Medical School in New Haven where he was an expert in infectious diseases. When she heard the shots, she ran outside.
There she witnessed a horrific scene. Dr. Toor, then 34, had been ambushed, gunned down in a parking area outside their apartment at 255 Blueberry Lane.
And now, this man was shooting at her and, it turns out, her son. The date was April 26, 2010.
“I confronted the murderer and then he fired at me several times. I was five months pregnant and my only thought was to protect our child growing inside me and my 3‑year-old son who was nearby,” she said as Wang’s sentencing got underway Friday before Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford. She cried as she described that morning to the judge, the public defender, the prosecutor, and to Wang, who sat two seats away from her.
“My husband was bleeding, and I was frantically trying to save him, still hoping that he will be OK. I sat down and placed my husband’s head on my lap and held him in my arms as he breathed his last breath in front of our son and my daughter in my womb. My husband was shot multiple times. Time stood still.”
She soon understood, she said, reading from a four-page statement, that not only did Wang kill her husband, but “he killed a part of me.” She said her son is still terrified to let her out of his sight. “He still remembers the day daddy left and is afraid of fireworks or any loud noises because he remembers hearing the gunshots. A 3‑year-old child should not have to witness lying on his father’s dead body.”
The courtroom was silent, stunned by her words. She cried. Wang did not even turn around to look at her. He stared ahead, without reacting.
Wang had travelled from Marietta, Georgia, where he lived with his wife and family to Branford to settle a score. Dr. Toor was Dr. Wang’s former supervisor at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York. The two men had a workplace dispute that eventually led to Dr. Wang’s firing in 2008. Dr. Wang held Dr. Toor, then the chief resident, responsible for ruining his medical career.
Branford Police Officer Joseph Peterson, hearing the description of the van, turned around in pursuit. He stopped the vehicle in the vicinity of the shooting and Wang was taken into custody before he could get onto I‑95 and head for New York. When police later inspected Dr. Wang’s red minivan they found three handguns, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, Google Earth directions to Dr. Toor’s condo, and a photo of Dr. Toor. The police also found information about two other former colleagues, both involved in Dr. Wang’s dismissal from Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn in 2008. Police called to tell the two doctors of Dr. Toor’s murder. Shell casings found at the murder scene matched Dr.. Wang’s guns, the police said.
First Appearance in Court for Toor Family
Thomas Ullmann, Wang and Angelica Papastavros.
This was the first time that Parneeta Sidhu had appeared in court to tell her story in connection with her husband’s murder. Dr. Toor’s younger brother, Tajinder Toor, sat near her in the courtroom, but they did not interact during the hour-long sentencing.
The sentencing took about 75 minutes. Judge Clifford did not mince words. He told Wang, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter via a nolo plea to killing Dr. Toor, that he was “a revengeful, unstable human being” and that while he wished he could impose more time in prison, he had accepted an agreement between the state prosecutor and the public defender’s office in June and would honor it.
Speaking from the bench in his 6th floor courtroom, Judge Clifford then sentenced Wang to 32 years in prison, but since he has already spent seven years in various state facilities, he will serve only 25 years plus five years of special probation.
Sidhu, who understood and had agreed to the plea, nonetheless made a pitch for more time in prison for Wang. “We deserve justice. Wang should never be free not 25 years or 35 or 45 years,” she told the judge. Then she looked up at the judge. “I still have hope.” But a longer sentence was not to be and she probably knew that.
She noted the paralysis of the case, observing, “This murder drama has lasted way too long. I have waited seven years for this day, seven prolonged years of additional agony that we all didn’t deserve. The murderer needs to be behind bars for the rest of his life and that would be the absolute true justice.”
Tajinder Toor told the court that Vajinder was “a man with a golden heart.” His letter was read by Beata Bagi, the Victim Services Advocate. He is shown here with her and Eugene Calistro, Jr., the senior state’s attorney.
In his letter, he said that the murder of his only brother devastated him. He said his marriage broke up and he was separated from his new born daughter for almost four years. “I guess because Vanjinder was the love of my life and suddenly when he was gone I fell into sadness, that sadness was not good for my new born daughter.” He said recovering, if possible, from his brother’s death, is now “a life-long project,” one that begins each day with sadness.
The Process is the Punishment
Both Judge Clifford and Calistro,who has been in charge of the case since the outset, expressed their sympathy and concern to Dr. Toor’s family for the delays in arriving at this day in court. “I have never had a case that has taken this long,” Judge Clifford said.
The judge explained that twice the Wang case had gone all the way up to the Connecticut Supreme Court before trial, once to determine how the state is to pay for expert witnesses for those defendants representing themselves and then to obtain a ruling that anti-psychotic drugs could be administered to Dr. Wang against his will. The case was put on hold for more than a year during these appeals to the state’s highest court.
Today’s sentencing marked the 105th time the case has been on the Superior Court docket. He observed that Wang filed more than 400 motions in the case, motions usually rejected by the judge as not relevant to matters at hand. Calistro said the victim’s family had a right “to the timely disposition of the case.” He observed that Wang’s rights had “not been breached.” Over the years he said that Wang had been represented by three public defenders and two additional outside attorneys. Complex issues were raised and resolved over the last seven years. “The defendant’s rights were protected.” As for the victims of this crime,” he said, pausing for a minute, “I sympathize and apologize to the family for the delays.” In the end, Calistro said, the case stalled, adding that “seven and half years is much too long.”
Was this an ideal sentence agreement, Calistro asked. No. But it was one that the parties had agreed to live with, especially because it ended any future appeals, a process that would continue to prolong the case.
With Permission
Calistro noted that Dr. Toor’s death devastated the Toor family. He and the judge both said Wang had never shown any remorse over his actions. At one point, Calistro held up this photo of Dr. Toor holding his son, a moment that brought Dr. Toor into the courtroom.
“It was always about Dr. Wang,” Calistro said, adding he had added a new word to his vocabulary during the course of this case, “prevarication,” or the act of lying. The prosecutor’s final request was to ask the judge to invoke an order of protection for Dr. Toor’s widow so that she or any third party is protected from Wang contacting her in any way for the next 40 years. The judge also ordered Wang not to have any contact with Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.
“Forty years from today?” asked the judge. “Yes,” replied Calistro. That would take Wang to age 91. It is entirely possible, however, that after his prison term is over he could be deported to China, his native country.
Wearing a grey sweat suit and sneakers, Wang sat between his public defenders, Thomas V. Ullmann, the recently retired chief public defender, and assistant public defender Angelica Papastavros.
Next, Judge Clifford looked at the defense table.
Ullmann, who had initiated the discussions for a plea, agreed that nobody is ever happy with the end result of a sentencing compromise. But in this case both sides seemed to agree that it was necessary.
A combination of factors led to the plea, including the complexity of the case along with potential lengthy appeals, a potential insanity defense, witness availability given the length of the case, and Dr. Wang’s slow return to mental stability under forced medication, a development that might not be permanent. He has been diagnosed with several major psychotic illnesses and is now being forcibly medicated.
Ullmann noted that Wang “is clearly still fixated on 2007.” At Kingbridge he was accused of not administering to a patient and was dismissed. “He feels he was wronged by Dr. Toor and was wronged by the attorney at the hospital. He feels his entire medical career was ruined by his dismissal. He has suffered from depression for a longtime. Unfortunately those played out.” Ullmann said of the killing, that it was a tragedy for both the Toor and the Wang families. As for their own relationship, Ullmann said, “he and I have had many disagreements, but he has always been respectful. Without this disposition reached, the case could have gone on substantially longer,” he added.
The disagreements between the two began in 2015 when it became clear to Ullmann that Wang’s pro se status, which he had held since December, 2011, was not working. By 2015 the case had been transferred to Superior Court Judge Thomas V. O’Keefe’s who sought to get the case to trial. That didn’t work because Wang was unfocused and unable to function because of various mental illnesses. Eventually Ullmann argued to remove Dr. Wang’s self-representation. Another mental competency examination was undertaken.In the end, Judge O’Keefe ruled Wang could not represent himself.
Wang Speaks
At sentencing a defendant is always asked if he wants to address the court before sentence is imposed. Wang, barely audible, said he did. But once again he was back in 2008 when he was fired from Kingsbrook Hospital.
Reading from the hospital report back then when Dr. Toor said Wang had threatened him, Wang told the courtroom, “I never threatened him there.” Wang then said he wanted to read a small statement. “I am also a father, a son, a husband. I can feel their angst because I have been going through similar situations of loss.”
Judge Clifford replied, drawing the obvious distinction. “You believe you were wrongfully terminated from your job. That led you to terminating Dr. Toor. You lost a job. He was killed. You are wrong. You are still focused on being fired,” the judge said. The judge observed that Dr. Toor was shot down outside his home “as he was headed off to work. He’s left there die with his 3‑year-old son. And you shot at his wife.” Wang later confessed to Branford police.
Addressing Dr. Toor’s widow and brother, Judge Clifford said he had “Iistened to the hell you’ve gone through. And why? A revengeful, unstable human being.”
In agreeing to a plea, Dr. Wang pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. Manslaughter in the first degree permits a defendant to plead guilty under circumstances that do not constitute murder per se because the act was committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty via the nolo contendre route to attempting to assault Parneeta Sidhu and to two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit. The reason for the nolo contendre pleas was that Wang still has pending civil cases against Kingsbrook Hospital.
Examining Mental Competency Law
The Wang case has raised the question of how the state’s psychiatric hospitals are evaluating defendants who must be deemed competent to stand trial to begin with. What this case shows is that a defendant may have serious psychotic disorders and still be deemed mentally competent to stand trial and to represent himself, a low bar. This disconnect needs to be examined by both psychiatric hospitals and the judiciary, observers of this case say. In the end the Wang case should prompt the judiciary to review and set new standards as to when a defendant may represent himself or herself.
Judge Clifford and Wang have held countless discussions over the years. And it was clear to those who have followed this case from the outset that Wang was still back at Kingsbrook. “You sought revenge,” the judge told him as Wang gazed at the judge. “Here we are today and you are still talking about your termination (from Kingsbrook 10 years ago). You have shown no remorse. This was a premeditated, cowardly killing of a defenseless, innocent person, a doctor, heading out to go to work.
“I cannot muster up any mercy or compassion for you,” the judge told Wang. “You have shattered a family that will suffer for the rest of their lives.“To the Toor family, the judge said, “There is nothing I can do to ease your grief and your pain. I agree. I hope he never gets out.”
This case, he observed, needed legal closure. “And the attorneys worked hard,” to achieve that he told the Toor family. “Hopefully this is the end of the torturous judicial process.”
Then again, you never know.
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