The Law Offices of Haytham Faraj, PLLC

Su Zhen Chen, PVT Danny Chen's mother lied when she denied that she had disowned her son. The issue of disownment has become pivotal to determining the real cause of Chen's suicide. Clearly disownment, if true, contributed to Chen's suicide. The adamant denial of disownment does not square with the substantial evidence that Chen himself believed that he had been disowned.He told his closest friends and comrades. He skulked and was depressed over it. Accordingly, his parents either disowned him and later lied about it or Chen genuinely believed it even though the parents did not express that to him.In either case, Chen labored under that belief and took his life because of the depression that belief caused. How do we know that he took his life because his parents disowned him? His suicide note. He told all his friends that his parents disowned him because he joined the military. His suicide note said "tell my parents I'm sorry." It did not complain of hazing or maltreatment. In fact no evidence exists that Chen took his life because of any alleged maltreatment. His note expresses regret to his parents, regret for joining the military which led them to disown him.