Wong's brother found her half-naked body under a blanket inside her ransacked home.
A DNA sample linked Hughes to the killing, prosecutors said. Jurors were told that Hughes had several convictions for previous home burglaries in San Francisco in which he stole knives from the kitchen.
Hughes' attorney suggested during the trial that Wong's boyfriend was more likely the suspect and that he was one of the last people to see her alive. The boyfriend also had relationship problems with Wong, jurors were told during the defense case.
In his appeal, Hughes argued that the judge wrongly replaced a holdout juror with an alternate after the jury had deliberated for five days and reported that they could not reach a verdict and were split, 11 to one.
In a note to the judge, the holdout, Juror No. 2, wrote, "I believe I have performed my jury service to the best of my ability and the evidence did not leave me with an abiding conviction that the charge is true. I have reached this decision in good faith and with extreme difficulty. Furthermore, I believe racism and bias played a large factor in this deliberation. Thank you."
The judge decided to remove only the holdout, a decision that was frowned upon today by the appeals court.
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