On December 15, 2013, a man surnamed Li was convicted of financial fraud and was sentenced to death penalty at the Intermediate People’s Court of Anyang, Henan province. Considering the amount involved and severity of his crime, the court ordered immediate execution of the death penalty. Li refused to accept this and appealed to the High People’s Court of Henan.
Li’s family resorted to attorneys Zhang Zhiyong and Zhang Liwen to let them represent Li on appeal. The attorneys, after an analysis of facts and evidence, held that Li had not harbored the intention of occupying the money for his own good and that his family helped prevent losses of victims by giving back the money in Li’s hands should reduce the severity of his crime. The first-instance sentence, according to the attorneys, went too far to be just and fair.
Attorney Zhang voiced their opinion fully in a heated debate at the High People’s Court of Henan. On July 23, 2014, the court issued its No. 118 criminal judgment sentencing Li to death with a two-year reprieve and revoking the initial first-instance judgment that had required immediate execution of him.
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