Ebens, with his stepson Michael Nitz as an accomplice, killed Vincent Chin,[2] a Chinese American man, on June 19, 1982 in a racially motivated assault.

This led to a federal indictment for violating Chin's civil rights, but only after public outrage at the probationary sentence and small fine imposed by Michigan Third Circuit Court Judge Charles Kaufman.

Ebens was found guilty on one count of violating Chin's civil rights and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

[3] On August 25, 1965, Ebens started work at Chrysler Corporation's plant in Belvidere, Illinois,[4] and was promoted to salaried trim foreman on November 8, 1965.

[3] Ebens' work with Chrysler brought him to Detroit, Michigan, where he owned a bar, Ron's Place, located on Van Dyke Avenue during the 1970s.

Witnesses at the ensuing trial testified that Ebens also got up and said, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work,"[5] referring to the Japanese auto industry, particularly Chrysler's increased sales of captively imported Mitsubishi models rebadged and sold under the Dodge and now-defunct Plymouth brands and Nitz's layoff from Chrysler in 1979, despite the fact that Chin was of Chinese descent, not Japanese.

As management, Ebens was not a member of the union, and the company placed him on vacation, asking him to leave Warren Truck Assembly later that same day.

[4] On March 16, 1983, after a plea bargain was reached the previous month to reduce the charge to third-degree manslaughter (which had no minimum sentence and could be resolved with probation), Judge Charles Kaufman sentenced Ebens and Nitz to three years' probation, a $3,000 fine, and $780 in court costs, explaining that his decision was based on Chin having initiated the physical altercation, on neither defendant having prior convictions, on Chin afterward having survived four days on life support and this fact lending reasonable doubt to the case of intent to murder, and on there being no Wayne County prosecutor present to argue for a more severe punishment.

Ebens' lawyers appealed, and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found the trial judge to have erred in not allowing the defense to present key pieces of evidence, chiefly an audiotape of Liza Cheuk May Chan of the American Citizens for Justice interviewing Chin's friends together, creating the grounds for an argument that the prosecution tampered with the witness testimony by getting them to "agree on what happened".

[9] A retrial was ordered, and Ebens was acquitted of the final charge, with a Cincinnati jury finding no racial motivation in the killing of Vincent Chin.

[4] At the November 1989 hearing, the Chin estate, represented by attorney James Brescoll, questioned how Ebens could obtain loans for a Dodge van and Plymouth Sundance requiring payments of $682/month, yet could not meet his $200/month minimum obligation.

[11] Michael Nitz reportedly did make payments pursuant to the original settlement, in spite of filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1986.