Taiwan: High Court overturns Hsieh Yi-han's death sentence, upholds Huang Lin-kai's death verdict

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2qundRT0gcATU6M9ftVfSx4Opp2b0jPWc7gUddORnNBR1sWt0QlbCW7FT5U66ro66sKKKoT-ROHYVUGAg-8fDHmlGZ_6AV6AKmMIe9nqObMOHE_MbNB3_Td3SSMaMq6MeP6CaLePw6k/s1600/Taipei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Taipei" border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2qundRT0gcATU6M9ftVfSx4Opp2b0jPWc7gUddORnNBR1sWt0QlbCW7FT5U66ro66sKKKoT-ROHYVUGAg-8fDHmlGZ_6AV6AKmMIe9nqObMOHE_MbNB3_Td3SSMaMq6MeP6CaLePw6k/s400/Taipei.jpg" title="Taipei" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>A new Leaf ? 2 witnesses called by Hsieh Yi-han's defense team said that her chances of rehabilitation were high, and the court paid heed to their testimony</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The High Court yesterday overturned Hsieh Yi-han's death sentence, sentencing her to life imprisonment after she was convicted of committing a double murder at Mama Mouth Cafe in 2013.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hsieh was sentenced to death by 3 lower courts, with the Supreme Court returning the case to the High Court twice for retrial over the murder of businessman Chen Chin-fu and his wife Chang Tsui-ping in February 2013.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At that time, Hsieh was a manager of the Mama Mouth Cafe in New Taipei City's Bali District. She was accused of killing the couple for money and dumping their bodies into Tamsui River, where their bodies were found washed up on shore a few days after they were killed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hsieh's defense lawyer called on 2 expert witnesses in the 2nd retrial, a psychiatrist and a Christian pastor, who had provided counseling to Hsieh during her incarceration, the court said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The expert witnesses testified that the chances of Hsieh's rehabilitation were high. The court overturned her death sentence based on this testimony, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ruling can be appealed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several family members of the victims attended the ruling and afterward said that they felt distraught and could not accept the decision, vowing to appeal to the Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a separate civil case in 2014, the High Court ruled that Hsieh must pay NT$9.99 million (US$312,823 at current exchange rates) compensation to Chen's siblings and Chang's mother.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chen's sister said it was clear that Hsieh was greedy and after learning that Chen was wealthy planned to kill the couple.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"She killed 2 people for money. She deserves the death penalty. It is the only way justice can be served," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although Hsieh was found guilty and the court fined her, the families have not received any payments, Chen's sister said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chen family lawyer Wei Yi-lung said the ruling did not meet society's expectations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hsieh committed a heinous crime for money and fabricated stories about why she did it, even laying blame on the victims, Wei said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In another ruling yesterday, the High Court upheld a death sentence for Huang Lin-kai, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her mother in October 2013.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Huang, who was 19 and in compulsory military service at the time, went to his girlfriend's house and strangled the mother to death, before raping his girlfriend and strangling her to death with rope.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The retrial judgement said Huang had no regard for human life and committed highly vicious acts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Given that he is likely to reoffend if released, the court said it decided to uphold the death sentence from a lower court's decision.</div><br />Source: Taipei Times, January 11, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Taiwan: High Court overturns Hsieh Yi-han's death sentence, upholds Huang Lin-kai's death verdict

A new Leaf ? 2 witnesses called by Hsieh Yi-han's defense team said that her chances of rehabilitation were high, and the court paid hee...

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