Su Yiu-chen (
The trio, Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳), had been detained at the Taipei Detention House since Aug. 15, 1991, until the court ruled that they should be immediately released last Monday.
They were suspected of killing Hsichih residents Wu Ming-han (
The trio was accused of committing the crime with Wang Wen-hsiao (
The brothers have been friends with Su and Liu since childhood.
Chuang was friends of Su and Liu, but the Wangs did not know him.
Wang Wen-hsiao was executed on Jan. 11, 1992, under Military Law after confessing and pleading guilty to murder. Before his execution, he told prosecutors that his younger brother, Su, Liu and Chuang were also involved in the crime.
According to then-Shihlin prosecutor Tsui Chih-chen's (崔紀鎮) indictment, Wang Wen-chung only stood guard for the other suspects during the crime and was later convicted of theft. In 1992, he began a jail sentence of two years and eight months.
Su, Liu and Chuang were sentenced to death in that same verdict until it was overturned last Monday by the Taiwan High Court.
Ever since the case was first heard by the Shihlin District Court in 1992, it has generated controversy due to an unclear forensic report and weak evidence.
These weaknesses prompted the former state public prosecutor-general, Chen Han (陳涵), to file three extraordinary appeals to the Supreme Court on the trio's behalf.
The police arrested five sus-pects -- Su, Liu, Chuang and the two Wangs -- on Aug. 14, 1991.
Prosecutors charged them with murder on Oct. 4 that same year.
Su, Liu and Chuang were sentenced to death after the first trial by the Shihlin District Court.
As well as Chen's three requests for extraordinary appeals -- all of which failed to sway the courts to change the verdict -- defense counsel Su Yiu-chen filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on Aug. 21, 1998.
On Sept. 23, 1999, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal and ordered the Taiwan High Court to hold rehearings and to have a retrial. The first hearing for the retrial was held on Nov. 16, 2000. Last Monday's ruling was the culmination of the retrial.
Nearly 12 years ago, the trio's families approached to Su for help and asked if he would defend their sons.
"I told them that the only way that I could be their defense counsel is if they were really innocent," Su said.
"After I met and talked to them in person at the detention facility, I reviewed their case and the evidence the prosecutors possessed, I decided to defend them," said Su, a 63-year-old veteran lawyer and a Tainan native.
Su began his career as an elementary school teacher after he graduated from National Tainan Normal College in 1958.
He decided to go back to college to obtain a law degree. After juggling both work and study, he received his bachelor's degree in law from National Chung Hsing University in 1965.
After teaching elementary school children for three years, he officially began his legal career when he became a Taichung prosecutor after passing the national exam for judicial officials in 1969.
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