The Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday acquitted death row inmate Cheng Hsing-tse (鄭性澤) of all charges, overturning his convictions in a long-running case stemming from the 2002 killing of a police officer in Taichung.
Cheng, 50, maintained his innocence throughout his 14-year imprisonment, of which he spent 10 years on death row.
“I have been waiting for this day for 15 years,” Cheng said in a statement after the verdict. “Up until today, I was a man without a tomorrow. From this moment, I want to start a brand new life.”
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
Cheng’s case went through seven trials and eight retrials, including the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision to uphold the death sentence.
In March last year, prosecutors applied with the Taiwan High Court for a retrial after new evidence emerged. Cheng was released on bail in May that year.
The details of the case remained unclear. There were doubts regarding the death of police officer Su Hsien-pi (蘇憲丕) and contradictory testimony over who at a Taichung karaoke parlor fired the gun that killed him.
Human rights advocates and judicial reform groups, including the Taiwan Association for Innocence and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, relentlessly campaigned locally and abroad to secure Cheng’s release.
Cheng’s family and the rights advocates highlighted what they called flaws in the original investigation, as well as allegedly questionable investigation methods — including torture and a coerced confession — and the use of inconclusive evidence by prosecutors.
In one retrial, Cheng claimed that he was tortured by police, who he said administered electric shocks to his genitals and forced water down his throat with a hose.
However, prosecutors challenged his claims, saying the defense could not provide evidence of torture.
Taiwan Association for Innocence officials yesterday said in a statement that although Cheng was acquitted of all charges, “we cannot find joy in this, because it proves once again that there are innocent people who have been wrongly convicted and given the death sentence.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) expressed her support for Cheng and the association at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
“We have seen that the investigation and prosecution lacked professionalism, and were filled with mistakes. We must undertake a comprehensive review to ensure there will not be another Cheng Hsing-tse, nor another broken family,” Yu said. “The justice system should not be used to persecute victims.”
Upon learning of his acquittal, Cheng penned a statement, which was translated into English and Japanese by capital punishment abolition campaigners, in the form a letter addressed to Su’s son.
“For 15 years I was called a cop-killer and lived on death row. Every single day I lived in terror of being executed and my family receiving the devastating news. My family and I have been through an ordeal of pain and fear unimaginable to anyone else,” Cheng wrote.
“Nevertheless, in those 15 years, one particular image was always imprinted in my brain. It was the image of you looking at me the way you did the day the police took me to the funeral parlor and forced me, in handcuffs and restraints, to worship at the alter you had set up for your father,” he wrote. “You were already there by the time we arrived. Startled by the sound of chains, you turned your head to look at me.”
“Today, I am exonerated. Fifteen years on, I can now finally tell you, once and for all: I am not your father’s killer,” he wrote. “Although you and I are on opposite sides of this tragic incident, we [have] one thing in common: We have both suffered the most horrendous ordeal of loss, grief, hate, broken hopes and dreams. Your family and mine are all victims in this tragedy.”
If Cheng’s acquittal becomes final, he could receive compensation of between NT$3,000 and NT$5,000 (US$99.24 and US$165.40) per day of wrongful detention, prosecutors said, meaning he could receive up to NT$21.6 million.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS