The investigation into the March 19, 2004 shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
Lee made the remarks in an interview with a local cable TV network by satellite.
The forensic expert, who had participated in the investigation into the "319" election-eve shooting at the invitation of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that although there is little physical evidence in the case, it still can be closed because investigators have exhausted all leads.
It's not uncommon in the US for an inquiry into a criminal case to be closed because of an inability to achieve any further breakthroughs, Lee said, adding that "closing a case" does not mean that the case has been solved.
Investigations can be re-opened if new solid evidence becomes available, Lee said.
Although reasonably established testimonial evidence might be credible, Lee said, by US standards there would be a "90 percent chance" that the shooting case would be closed.
Chen and Lu were only slightly wounded in the shooting in Tainan City, but the incident sparked a series of protests by the opposition, which accused Chen of staging the shooting in an effort to gain sympathy votes and eventually win re-election the following day by a razor-thin margin.
The pan-blue parties have never produced evidence to substantiate their accusations, and the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of the Chen's re-election.
After a lengthy investigation, with Lee assisting in crime scene reconstruction and forensic examinations, a "319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee" ended a probe last August, after the police identified Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) as the main suspect. The 60-something unemployed man was found dead in Anping Harbor in Tainan about 10 days after the shooting, in an apparent suicide.
The family of Chen Yi-hsiung had previously testified that he had carried out the shooting because he was depressed about being unemployed and blamed the president's policies for his troubles.
However, his wife, Lee Shu-chiang (
About a year ago, Lee Shu-chiang was seen in police video footage saying that Chen Yi-hsiung took responsibility for the shooting by killing himself, that she felt sorry about this and that she wanted to apologize on his behalf.
In Friday's TV interview, Henry Lee said that evidence in a criminal case includes two parts:personal testimonies and physical evidence. In modern times, he said, the value of subjective personal testimonies has declined, while that of objective physical evidence has grown.
According to Henry Lee, the Chen Yi-hsiung family's retraction doesn't necessarily merit a re-opening of the "319 shooting" investigation.
With scant physical evidence -- including a copper bullet, a lead bullet and two cartridges retrieved from the shooting scene -- Lee said investigators should be credited for their success in tracking down the supplier of the remodeled handgun used in the shooting.
Lee said it was regrettable that the handgun itself has not been recovered.
If the handgun and Chen Yi-hsiung's suicide note had been recovered, Lee said the controversy surrounding the case would likely be cleared up. Chen Yi-hsiung's wife confessed to the police previously that she had found a suicide note from her husband, but that she had burned it to prevent her family from being embarassed.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique