The Region : Professor’s Killer Freed After 18 Months

Still maintaining his innocence, the Vietnamese student convicted of killing California State University, Fullerton, physics professor Edward Lee Cooperman has been released from prison after serving 18 months of a three-year sentence. Minh Van Lam, now 22, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the Oct. 13, 1984, slaying of Cooperman, who was head of an organization providing medical aid to Vietnam. Lam was released from the prison without fanfare on June 21. Lam reiterated in an interview that the shooting had been accidental and said he now wants simply to “go back to school and get on with my life.” The professor’s widow and some friends and associates have repeatedly contended that the slaying was politically motivated.