Yan Xue (pseudonym), who has lived in changji city, Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang for many years, did not expect that her husband would be related to a murder case in Mianyang, Sichuan Province 29 years ago.
Yan Xue said that in 2009, she met and fell in love with Deng Ping, got married a few years later and had a pair of children. On June 1, 2019, when they were having dinner with friends in a restaurant in changji city, the police took Deng Ping away. The next day, he was detained in criminal detention and arrested by the prosecution more than ten days later. Yan Xue said that only then did she know that Deng Ping, whose real name was Ye Shuping, who had lived with her for many years, was involved in a murder case in 1992.
On November 20, 2019, Mianyang City Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court for intentional homicide. The prosecution alleged that on the evening of April 17, 1992, Ye Shuping had a fight with others in a ballroom in Mianyang, during which he hit the onlookers Jiang Moumou. Later, Jiang Moumou and the victim Gong Mochun stopped Ye Shuping to discuss and had a dispute. Ye Shuping stabbed two people with a knife, and Gong Mochun later died after being rescued. On October 19, 2020, the court ruled in the first instance that the defendant Ye Shuping’s behavior constituted the crime of intentional homicide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
After the judgment of the first instance, Ye Shuping refused to accept it and appealed to the Sichuan Provincial High Court. On October 27, 2021, the second trial of the case was held. Ye Shuping argued that in the face of infringement by Gong Mochun, Jiang Moumou and others, Ye Shuping was "forced to defend"; According to the 1979 version of the Criminal Law applicable at the time of the crime, Ye Shuping was not taken compulsory measures until 27 years after the crime, which exceeded the limitation of prosecution for 20 years.
The 1979 version of the Criminal Law stipulates that if the maximum legal punishment is life imprisonment or death penalty, after 20 years (no prosecution); If it is deemed necessary to prosecute after 20 years, it shall be reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval. After the people’s courts, people’s procuratorates and public security organs take compulsory measures, those who evade investigation or trial are not limited by the time limit for prosecution.
On November 15th, Yan Xue told The Paper that she had rushed to Mianyang from Xinjiang to attend the trial. "No verdict has been pronounced yet." The prosecution of this case was not reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and no compulsory measures were taken before the husband was arrested. In the second trial, the prosecution changed the charge of prosecution and changed the crime of intentional homicide to the crime of intentional injury.
After 27 years of escape, he was arrested and sentenced to life in the first instance.
"At that time, I thought they had mistaken someone. I didn’t know anyone named Ye Shuping, and I didn’t listen to him (Deng Ping)." Yan Xue told The Paper that on the night of June 1, 2019, her husband didn’t resist when he was taken away. He just said to her before getting on the bus, "Go home". A few days later, she learned that her husband "Deng Ping" was "Ye Shuping" and was involved in a murder case in Mianyang, Sichuan Province 27 years ago. Mianyang police took him away.
More than half a month later, the police announced the inside story of this case that spanned 27 years through the local media in Sichuan. According to media reports, on the evening of April 17, 1992, Ye Shuping, then 21, and the victim Gong Mochun had a fight outside a ballroom in Fenggu Town, Fucheng District, Mianyang City. Ye Shuping stabbed the victim to death with a knife and fled. After the incident, Fucheng Branch quickly set up a task force to fully investigate, but it was unsuccessful and was once deadlocked for many years.
According to the report, in the first half of 2019, the pursuers "comprehensively used traditional investigation methods and modern scientific and technological means" and determined that "Deng Ping" and Ye Shuping, who lived in Changji Prefecture of Xinjiang at that time, were very similar, and then they were arrested with the cooperation of Xinjiang police. After a surprise trial, the police confirmed "Deng Ping", namely Ye Shuping, who "truthfully confessed the fact of murder and absconding" and "changed his name and surname to hide in Xinjiang through bleaching".
Yan Xue told The Paper that she and her husband met in 2009, and the latter did some construction business in Changji. The two married in Xinjiang in 2014 and had children. In life, the husband never mentioned his real name, only said that he was born in Sichuan. His ID card was issued by the local public security organ in Xinjiang, and his address, date of birth and name were changed. After the accident, she went to Mianyang and learned through the police station that there were still relatives in her husband’s family. "The family also thought that he was gone."
On November 20, 2019, Mianyang City Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court, accusing the defendant Ye Shuping of intentional homicide, and the plaintiff Gong Moumou (the victim’s family) filed an incidental civil lawsuit.
The prosecution alleged that at about 10 pm on April 17th, 1992, when Ye Shuping and his friend Zhou Moumou were playing in the Jiale Ballroom on the second floor of the business hall of the supply and marketing cooperative at No.13 Daxi Street, Fenggu Town, Fucheng District, Mianyang City, they had a dispute with others because of trivial matters. In the middle of the fight, Shu Ping punched Jiang Moumou who was watching. Both sides of the fight were persuaded to open and came to the sidewalk at the entrance of the first floor. Jiang Moumou and the victim Gong Mochun (male, 20 years old) stopped Ye Shuping, and they discussed the mistake and had a dispute. Ye Shuping stabbed Jiang’s left arm with a knife, and stabbed Gong Xianchun’s right rib to stop his murder, and then fled the scene. Gong Mouchun died after being rescued.
It was identified that Gong Mouchun died of massive blood loss and circulatory failure after liver and kidney rupture caused by a single-edged sharp instrument. The prosecution believes that the defendant Ye Shuping deliberately killed others, and his behavior violated the provisions of Article 132 of the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979. "Criminal responsibility should be investigated for intentional homicide."
After the trial, on October 19, 2020, Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court made a first-instance judgment, and found that the defendant Ye Shuping was reckless in the dispute, stabbing with a knife at random, causing one death, and his behavior constituted the crime of intentional homicide. Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court did not recognize Ye Shuping and his defenders’ defense opinions that "the existing evidence is not enough to prove Ye Shuping’s murder" and "there was no intention to cause the victim’s death". In the end, Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced the defendant Ye Shuping to intentional homicide, sentenced him to life imprisonment, deprived him of political rights for life, and compensated the victim’s family.
The first instance found that the deceased party had come forward to provoke.
Yan Xue said that after the verdict was pronounced in the first instance, Ye Shuping wrote an appeal in prison, requesting that the second instance be acquitted. Ye Shuping believes that the facts identified by the court in the first instance are unclear and there is no evidence to prove that he deliberately killed the victim; The first instance did not review the prosecution period and the probative force of the appraisal report.
At the end of October 2021, the Sichuan Provincial High Court, a court of second instance, heard the case. Whether Ye Shuping’s wounding behavior belongs to legitimate defense has become one of the focuses of the trial. The Paper noticed that in the testimony accepted by the court of first instance, the origin of the contradiction between Zhou Moumou and Ye Shuping and Jiang Moumou and Gong Mouchun was described.
The judgment of the first instance shows that Gan’s testimony said that on the night of the incident, after Zhou Moumou and Ye Shuping arrived at the ballroom, there was a dispute with a group of Gan. During the period, Ye Shuping persuaded him to "forget it", but he was slapped by the other side and there was a fight between the two sides. Soon, the fight was stopped by the ballroom owner and others, and both sides went downstairs.
At this point, Jiang Moumou and Gong Mochun stopped Ye Shuping and Zhou Moumou, saying that they had "accidentally punched" and "wanted to turn around (back)" in the ballroom just now. Gan’s testimony said that after Ye Shuping went downstairs, Jiang asked Ye Shuping, "What should I do if you punched me?" Ye Shuping replied, "I’m sorry." Jiang said, "I hit you and said I’m sorry, but I can’t do it." Jiang Moumou testified that he "raised his hand to hit the other side (Ye Shuping)", and the other side countered. Gong Mochun "greeted him to help fight", and then Gong Mochun was stabbed in the chaos.
The Paper noted that regarding Ye Shuping’s defense opinion that "Jiang Mou and Gong Mouchun are the ones who provoked the trouble", the court of first instance said in the judgment that Gong Mouchun and Jiang Moumou provoked the defendant Ye Shuping on the grounds that they were injured by accident, and they were at fault for the occurrence of harmful consequences. "The defendant Ye Shuping can be given a lighter punishment as appropriate".
Yan Xue said that in the second trial of the case, Ye Shuping insisted that Ye Shuping’s counterattack against Jiang Moumou and Gong Mochun in order to escape from encirclement and self-defense was "forced to defend in desperation"; Even if it hurts two people, "it is also a special defense in legitimate defense."
Whether the limitation of action is exceeded becomes the focus.
Ye Shuping was arrested 27 years after the crime, and the limitation of prosecution was also one of the focuses of the case.
The case occurred in 1992, when the 1979 version of the criminal law was applied, and when the court made a judgment in the first instance, it was also applied.
With regard to the limitation of action, Article 76 of the 1979 version of the Criminal Law stipulates that if the maximum legal punishment is life imprisonment or death penalty, it will be 20 years. If it is deemed necessary to prosecute after 20 years, it shall be reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval. In addition, Article 77 of this version of the Criminal Law stipulates that "those who evade investigation or trial after the people’s courts, people’s procuratorates and public security organs take compulsory measures are not limited by the time limit for prosecution".
In the case of "not limited by the time limit for prosecution", the current 1997 version of the Criminal Law has been changed, stipulating that "those who file a case for investigation or evade investigation or trial after the people’s court accepts the case are not limited by the time limit for prosecution".
Ye Shuping claimed that the 1979 version of the Criminal Law, which was in force at the time of the crime, was applied to the case. Ye Shuping was only taken compulsory measures 27 years after the crime, which exceeded the 20-year statute of limitations. In addition, Ye Shuping had no new criminal record during his stay in Xinjiang, and there was no statutory circumstance that the statute of limitations was interrupted. The court should decide to suspend the trial according to general principles of criminal law, which is "light and old".
In the first trial of the case, the defense did not raise the issue of retrospective limitation of criminal proceedings, but only raised the issue that "the incidental civil action has passed the limitation of action". In this regard, the judgment of the first trial held that after the case occurred, the plaintiff in the incidental civil action could not claim civil rights because the defendant Ye Shuping fled to other places. After Ye Shuping was arrested and brought to justice, the plaintiff in the incidental civil action filed an incidental civil action at the same time as the public prosecution accused the crime and claimed civil rights in time.
However, some lawyers believe that according to the 1979 version of the Criminal Law, whether the defense opinion of Ye Shuping’s so-called "exceeding the limitation of action" is established should depend on whether the police issued a notice of arrest or detention at that time, "rather than whether it was brought to justice".
Yan Xue told The Paper that in the 20 years from 1992 to 2012, "the public security organs actually did not take compulsory measures against Ye Shuping, including compulsory summons, bail pending trial, residential surveillance, detention and arrest."
The Paper noted that the "murder case of a female student in South Medical University" which had attracted much attention before had also triggered a discussion on the limitation of prosecution. On March 24, 1992, a case of brutally killing a female student Lin occurred in the former Nanjing Medical College in Gulou District, Nanjing. On February 23, 2020, 28 years later, the suspect Ma Moumou was arrested. At that time, some people were worried that the case had passed the statute of limitations and "justice may not come."
Ruan Qilin, a professor at the School of Criminal Justice of China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with Procuratorial Daily that according to the principle that the criminal law should be given a lighter punishment, the law at the time of the crime, namely the 1979 Criminal Law, should be applied to this case. "Thus, the criminal act in this case has passed the statute of limitations." Ruan Qilin said, but this does not mean that criminals can get away with it and "will never be prosecuted again."
Both the 1979 version of the Criminal Law and the 1997 version of the Criminal Law stipulate that "if it is deemed necessary to prosecute after 20 years, it must be reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval".
Yan Xue told The Paper that as far as she knew, the case was not reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval. In addition, Yan Xue said that during the trial of the second instance, the prosecution changed the charge of prosecution in court, and changed the crime of intentional homicide to the crime of intentional injury, but did not change the basic facts of the case, and still determined that Ye Shuping should be responsible for the death of the victim Gong Xianchun. Yan Xue told The Paper that the second trial has not yet been pronounced.
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