Chang Chih-hui (張志輝), a suspect in the murder of Pai Hsiao-yen (白曉燕), the 17-year-old daughter of TV entertainer Pai Ping-ping (
Chang's brother-in-law, Chen Chin-hsing (陳進興), was convicted of the murder and rape of Pai Hsiao-yen in 1997. Chen was sentenced to death for his crimes and later executed, Chang's High Court trial in the Pai case is still pending.
In June, the Taoyuan District Court decided to commute Chang's death penalty and reduced his sentence to life imprisonment because the court took into consideration that Chang had turned himself in after strangling his girlfriend.
However, the High Court ruling on Friday said "the police had learned that Chang had committed the murder before they were informed by the TV reporters that Chang first wanted to report the crime to them." The high court therefore decided that Chang had not turned himself in.
Last October, Chang broke into his girlfriend's apartment in Yangmei Township (楊梅), Taoyuan County. He discovered her asleep. Chang then woke her and asked her for sex but she refused. He then strangled her.
Chang told the law enforcement officers that he killed his girlfriend because she had fallen in love with another man and wanted to break up with him.
After killing his girlfriend, Chang loaded her body into her car, and then called the local cable TV station.
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