The death sentence for the "Hsichih Trio" has been reinstated. It is the first case in the nation's judicial history to go through three extraordinary appeals, the first capital case to be granted a retrial, the first capital case where a verdict was changed to not guilty in a retrial, and the first death sentence not to be carried out within a year. The most bizarre precedent that this saga has set, however, is that after the court again issued a death sentence on Friday, the defendants were not detained.
For 16 years, the Hsichih Trio have hovered between a guilty and not guilty verdict for a capital offense. The first trial, two verdict reversals by the Taiwan High Court and a final verdict by the Supreme Court all resulted in death sentences. After three requests for extraordinary appeals by the state public prosecutor-general were rejected and the "not guilty" verdict in the retrial handed down, the guilty verdict has been reinstated all over again.
This life and death battle is a terrible ordeal for the Hsichih Trio and the victims' families. It is also a never-ending disaster for the judiciary.
The entire case against the men is built on their confessions -- allegedly extracted through torture -- and the fingerprints of one Wang Wen-hsiao (
Three knives were used, according to the court, but only one rusty kitchen knife has ever been located. The police investigation left a lot to be desired -- and that is assuming that they did not torture the suspects. No matter how diligently investigators examine the case or how many forensics experts they ask to testify, the process will be permanently tainted by incompetence, if not malice.
Human rights organizations and lawyers representing the three say that modern scientific technology and legal standards would require a finding of not guilty.
But the Taipei High Court judge who reinstated the guilty verdict was not interested in that argument, ruling that Wang's "confession" was credible and that the confessions of the three men revealed congruent details that no one else could have known. This apparently offset the lack of material evidence.
The original death sentence was never carried out because a series of justice ministers, including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Now, with President Chen Shui-bian's (
Therefore, even if the Hsichih Trio lose their next appeal, they will not necessarily be executed.
The successive appeals and trials in this saga provide much food for thought on the use of the death penalty when the legal system displays manifest flaws. They have also eroded confidence in the judiciary among legal practitioners.
When the Taipei High Court revoked the death sentence, many began to laud the ability of the judiciary to begin healing after decades of collusion with the KMT and police. With its change of heart two days ago, however, some human rights and judicial organizations now say that "the legal system is dead."
Some say a presidential pardon is the way to go if the final appeal fails. It may save their lives, but the accused will never be able to clear themselves of "guilt" based on the facts, or in this case, the utter lack of them.
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