Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Charles Kaufman sentenced Ebens and Nitz to three years' probation and a $3,000 fine, but no jail time.

"[8][9] Described by the president of the Detroit Chinese Welfare Council as a "$3,000 license to kill", the lenient sentence led to an uproar from Asian Americans and spurred the community into activism.

[9] The case has since been viewed as a critical turning point for Asian American civil rights engagement and a rallying cry for stronger federal hate crime legislation.

[14] At the time of his death, Chin was employed as an industrial draftsman at Efficient Engineering, an automotive supplier,[12] and waiting tables at the Golden Star restaurant in Ferndale, Michigan on weekends.

"Japan bashing" became popular with politicians, such as U.S. representative from Michigan John Dingell, who blamed "little yellow men" for domestic automakers' misfortune.

[16] On June 19, 1982, Chin was having a bachelor party at the Fancy Pants Club in Highland Park to celebrate his upcoming wedding with three of his friends: Jimmy Choi, Gary Koivu, and Robert Siroskey.

[17] Seated across the stage from them were two white men, Chrysler plant supervisor Ronald Ebens and his stepson, laid-off autoworker Michael Nitz.

[4] According to an interview by American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore for the Detroit Free Press, after Chin gave a white stripper a generous gratuity, Ebens shouted, "Hey, you little motherfuckers!"

[8][26] They were sentenced by Wayne County Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman to three years' probation and were each ordered to pay a $3,000 fine plus $780 in court costs, but received no jail time.

[8][26] Kaufman explained his light sentences based on Ebens' and Nitz's lack of previous criminal records, their stability in the community, and his opinion that the two would not go on to harm anyone else.

[8][16] Kaufman argued that the assault was "the continuation of a fight that Mr. Chin apparently started", and that had the incident been a case of self-defense, Ebens and Nitz "would not be guilty of anything.

[10] Others across the country were spurred into activism; the advocacy group American Citizens for Justice (ACJ) was formed to protest the sentencing[9] and began working toward a judicial appeal.

[8] The ACJ quickly gained the support of diverse ethnic and religious groups, advocacy organizations, and politicians such as the Detroit City Council president and Congressman John Conyers.

[30] Journalist Helen Zia and lawyer Liza Chan led the fight for federal charges,[31] which resulted in the two killers being accused of two counts of violating Chin's civil rights under title 18 of the United States Code.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor explained that Ebens could not be given a "fair and impartial trial" in Metro Detroit due to the "saturation of publicity" surrounding the case.

[21] In November 1989, Ebens reappeared in court for a creditor's hearing, where he detailed his finances and reportedly pledged to make good on his debt to the Chin estate.

[41] In September 1987, Chin's mother, Lily, moved from Oak Park back to her hometown of Guangzhou, China, reportedly to avoid being reminded of her son's death.

[42] In 2010, the city of Ferndale, Michigan, erected a milestone marker at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road in memorial of the killing of Chin.

Sociologist Meghan A. Burke writes that Chin's killing prompted the creation of activist coalitions and a shared sense of pan-Asian identity for the first time in U.S.

[8] The case has since been viewed as a turning point for Asian American civil rights engagement and a rallying cry for stronger federal hate crime legislation.