Copyright 2012 by Stanford University

LI Fei,

An Intentional Homicide Case

Guiding Case No. 12

(Discussed and Passed by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People’s Court

Released on September 18, 2012)

CHINA GUIDING CASES PROJECT

English Guiding Case (EGC12)

November 9, 2012 Edition*

* The citation of this translation of the Guiding Case is: 《李飞故意杀人案》(LI Fei, An Intentional

Homicide Case), CHINA GUIDING CASES PROJECT, English Guiding Case (EGC12), Nov. 9, 2012 Edition, available

at http://cgc.law.stanford.edu/guiding-cases/guiding-case-12.

This document was primarily prepared by CHEN Qin, Oma Lee, Ringo Li, Christine Qingyu Liu, Carl

Rubinstein, WEI Chuchu, Randy Wu, and Isabella Zhang. The document was finalized by Dimitri Phillips and Dr.

Mei Gechlik. Minor editing, such as splitting long paragraphs, adding a few words included in square brackets,

and boldfacing the headings to correspond with those boldfaced in the original Chinese version, was done to make

the piece more comprehensible to readers. The following text, otherwise, is a direct translation of the original text

and reflects formatting of the Chinese document released by the Supreme People’s Court.

The following Guiding Case was discussed and passed by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme

People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China and was released on September 18, 2012 available at

http://www.chinacourt.org/law/detail/2012/09/id/145946.shtml. See also 《最高人民法院关于发布第三批指导

性案例的通知》 (The Supreme People’s Court’s Notice Concerning the Release of the Third Batch of Guiding

Cases), Sept. 18, 2015, available at http://www.chinacourt.org/law/detail/2012/09/id/145946.shtml.

2012.11.09 Edition

Copyright 2012 by Stanford University

2

Keywords

Criminal Intentional Homicide Brought About by Civil Conflict

Family Assistance in Arrest Recidivism

Sentenced to Death with Suspension of Execution

Restrict Commutation of Sentence

Main Points of the Adjudication

Regarding an intentional homicide case brought about by civil conflict in which the

defendant commits the crime in a cruel fashion and is a recidivist, the guilt of the defendant is of

such a nature that the death penalty should be imposed. But where the defendant’s family takes

the initiative to assist public security authorities in having [the defendant] arrested and brought to

justice and actively seeks to provide compensation, the people’s court may, based upon the

specific circumstances of the case and considering [the case] from the perspective of resolving

social conflicts as much as possible, sentence the defendant to death with a two-year suspension

of execution and also decide to restrict commutation of the sentence in accordance with law.

Related Legal Rule(s)

Article 50, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China

Basic Facts of the Case

On April 14, 2006, defendant LI Fei (李飞) was sentenced to a limited prison term of two

years for committing larceny; he was released upon completion of his sentence on January 2,

2008. Introduced by others in April 2008, LI Fei and the victim, a certain Ms. XU (徐某某)

(female, aged 26 at the time of death), established a romantic relationship. In August of the

same year, the two broke up because of frequent quarrels. On August 24, when local public

security authorities went to LI Fei’s work unit to establish a key person file1 on him, the work

unit learned the fact that LI Fei had been sentenced for committing a crime and terminated LI

Fei’s employment on this ground. LI Fei believed that his termination was related to Ms. XU.

On September 12 of the same year at around 21:00, defendant LI Fei called Ms. XU’s cell

phone. Since XU was out, her cousin, a certain Ms. WANG (victim, aged 16 at the time of the

1 Translators’ note: A “key person file” (Chinese “重点人档案”) is a file set up by the police when they

have identified a key person to follow.

2012.11.09 Edition

Copyright 2012 by Stanford University

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incident), answered the call from LI Fei and informed him that XU was out. LI Fei later called

Ms. XU’s cell phone again many times, but received no answer. At around 23:00 that day, LI

Fei went to the vicinity of the “Little Angle Image Design Studio”, which XU operated in Hulan

District, Harbin Municipality. He again dialed XU’s cell phone and quarreled with her on the

phone. Afterwards, LI Fei broke the door of and entered XU’s bedroom inside the “Little Angle

Image Design Studio”, took an iron hammer in the room, and struck XU multiple times on the

head. He also struck XU’s cousin, Ms. WANG, several times on the head and on both hands.

Shortly thereafter, LI Fei used the iron hammer to strike XU’s and WANG’s heads again,

resulting in XU’s death at the scene and light injuries to WANG. In order to prevent a certain

TONG, an apprentice of the “Little Angle Image Design Studio”, who was present at the scene,

from calling the police, LI Fei took the cell phones of XU, WANG, and TONG away from the

scene, discarded them, and then absconded. On the 23rd

of the same month at around 22:00, LI

Fei went to the home of his aunt, a certain Ms. LI, and entrusted her to ask his mother, a certain

Ms. LIANG, to send him money. After learning of this situation, LIANG reported it to the

public security authorities in a timely manner. The next evening, LIANG assisted the public

security authorities in arresting LI Fei, who came to his aunt’s home to pick up the money.

During the handling of this case, LI Fei’s mother, Ms. LIANG, provided compensation of RMB

40,000 to the victims’ families on behalf of LI.

Results of the Adjudication

On April 30, 2009, the Intermediate People’s Court of Harbin Municipality, Heilongjiang

Province, by the (2009) Ha Xing Er Chu Zi No. 51 Criminal Judgment, determined that

defendant LI Fei was guilty of intentional homicide, and sentenced him to death and deprived

him of his political rights for life. After the judgment was pronounced, LI Fei appealed. On

October 29, 2009, the Higher People’s Court of Heilongjiang Province, by the (2009) Hei Xing

San Zhong Zi No. 70 Criminal Ruling, rejected the appeal, upheld the original judgment, and

reported to the Supreme People’s Court for authorization in accordance with law. The Supreme

People’s Court, based on the facts confirmed in the review procedure and the circumstance that

the defendant’s mother assisted in arresting the defendant, by the (2010) Xing Wu Fu No.

66820039 Criminal Ruling, did not authorize the death penalty of defendant LI Fei and

remanded the case to the Higher People’s Court of Heilongjiang Province for retrial. The

Higher People’s Court of Heilongjiang Province retried the case in accordance with law, and on

May 3, 2011, rendered the (2011) Hei Xing San Zhong Zi No. 63 Criminal Judgment, [in which]

defendant LI Fei’s sentence for intentional homicide was amended to death with a two-year

suspension of execution and deprivation of political rights for life, and, at the same time, [the

court] decided to restrict the commutation of his sentence.

2012.11.09 Edition

Copyright 2012 by Stanford University

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Reasons for the Adjudication

After the retrial, the Higher People’s Court of Heilongjiang Province opined: Defendant

LI Fei’s acts constituted intentional homicide. The crime was extremely serious, and the guilt

of the defendant was of such a nature that the death penalty should be imposed. This case was a

crime brought about by a civil conflict. After this case was exposed, when LI Fei’s mother, Ms.

LIANG, learned of LI Fei’s whereabouts after committing the homicide, she promptly took the

initiative and went to the public security authorities to report the information and actively

cooperated with the public security authorities to have LI Fei arrested and brought to justice.

When LI Fei was arrested by the public security authorities, he was compliant in being brought

to justice, without acts of resistance. After being brought to justice, he consistently gave

truthful account of his crimes and confessed his crimes with a good attitude. During the

handling of this case, LI Fei’s mother compensated the victims for their economic loss on his

behalf. Although LI Fei was a recidivist, the circumstances under which he previously

committed larceny were relatively minor. Comprehensively assessing the above-mentioned

circumstances, [the court] may make the penalty more lenient on a discretionary basis and not

sentence him to the death penalty with immediate execution. At the same time, given that he

committed intentional homicide in a cruel fashion, that he was a recidivist, and that the victim’s

family refused to forgive him,2 the court sentenced defendant LI Fei to death with a two-year

suspension of execution and also decided to restrict the commutation of sentence in accordance

with law.

2 Translators’ note: It is not clear from the Chinese text “被害人亲属” whether this refers to one or both of

the victims’ families or whether the victims’ families are considered as one because of the victims’ familial

relationship.