The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday filed an extraordinary appeal against convicted murderer Wang Hung-wei’s (王鴻偉) death penalty, saying that he has shown remorse and is a good prospect for rehabilitation.
Wang was sentenced to death in 2009 for stabbing 20-year-old Chang Ya-ling (張雅玲) to death on Sept. 26, 2000. Wang, who was 30 at the time of the murder, had been stalking Chang after she turned down his advances, and on the night of the murder he knocked Chang unconscious with his car and then took her to a remote location where he stabbed her 176 times in the neck.
The office said that Wang was driven to murder by “loss of love,” which it said was different from premeditated murder, adding that the court failed to investigate whether there was a chance of Wang’s rehabilitation.
Photo: Sun Yu-lien, Taipei Times
Prosecutor-General Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) on Friday last week filed an extraordinary appeal on Wang’s behalf, it said.
The decision was made after a discussion regarding the police investigation report, adding that no evidence was found of intent, propensity toward murder, sexual addiction or any other “base” motivation on Wang’s part, Yen said.
Wang’s actions did not constitute extreme homicidal behavior, such as is exhibited in serial homicide cases, public mass murders and murders where victims are chosen without reason, Yen said.
The death penalty ruling did not conform with the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty, Yen said.
Yen said that according to those guidelines “in countries that have not abolished the death penalty it should only be used for the most extreme offenses.”
The use of capital punishment in Wang’s case contradicts the usual practice of the Supreme Court and violates the principals of equality, Yen said.
Chang’s sister yesterday said that she was shocked to hear the news, as she did not expect the verdict to be appealed after 17 years, adding that the law now seems to protect criminals.
“Is rejection the same thing as ‘loss of love?’ Is putting a watermelon knife in one’s car not ‘premeditation’? Is a person who stabs someone 176 times able to be rehabilitated?” People First Party Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said on Facebook.
Liu expressed concern over the potential effects on Chang’s family and questioned the prosecutors’ sense of empathy.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said that filing an extraordinary appeal in Wang’s case is inappropriate, citing the multiple stab wounds and the intentional placing of the body in the parking lot where it was found.
Lin called Wang’s actions “savage” and “inhumane.”
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
RSS