Following a prisoner's final steps

DEATH ROW The government's decision to open prisons to the public has focused attention not only on the facilities, but the executions carried out there

By Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTER

Cheng was already a gangster on the "national hoodlum list" before he began his political career in 1990 by winning a seat on the Pingtung County Council.

However, on Dec. 13, 1994, he shot to death Chung Yuan-feng (鐘源峰), the owner of an illegal casino, in front of Chung's mother at the Chung residence because he refused to succumb to blackmail. He shot Chung 19 times.

On July 14, 2000, the Supreme Court upheld the Taiwan High Court's verdict and Cheng's death penalty. Cheng was executed within two weeks.