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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Testimony began on Tuesday in the case of Todd Hyung-Rae Tarselli, who is arguing his life sentence on a homicide charge should be changed, arguing he was a minor at the time of the crime.</p><p>Tarselli, 45, has been serving a life term for the 1992 death of Mark Bunchalk, 17, during a robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken location on Broad Street in Hazleton.</p><p>Tarselli shot Bunchalk nine times and strangled him with a phone cord before making off with a little over $1,000.</p><p>Tarselli was granted the right to appeal his sentence last year, after a U.S. Supreme Court decision bars mandatory life sentence for defendants who were minors at the time their crime was committed. However, life sentences are still possible if the trial judge feels it is necessary.</p><p>Officially, Tarselli was 18 when he committed the crime, but through his attorneys on Tuesday, he argued he was actually 17. Tarselli, who was adopted at a young age from South Korea, argues there is a difference in the way Koreans and Americans count age, and that he was actually 17 by American standards.</p><p>Testimony continues on Wednesday before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Times Leader staff report</p></bylineMeta></div>

Arguments begin for Tarselli, arguing for new sentence on age discrepancy