Mass. Court To Hear Appeal In Chinatown Massacre

BOSTON (AP) - The highest court in Massachusetts will hear arguments next month in an appeal by two men convicted of killing five people in a social club in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood two decades ago.

Siny Van Tran and Nam The Tham are asking the Supreme Judicial Court to overturn their convictions and grant them new trials.

The killings on Jan. 12, 1991, stunned Boston, particularly residents of the city's Chinatown neighborhood where the men were gunned down execution-style as they played cards.

Tran and Tham say prosecutors unfairly inflamed the emotions of jurors used airline flight records that were never properly authenticated to convince the jury that the men fled the country because they committed the crimes.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 11.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)