Ruling on a bizarre murder case dating back to 1994, the California state Supreme Court has refused to reinstate a double murder conviction against Lisa Peng over the deaths of her millionaire husband's mistress and their baby in Orange County.
Peng, now aged 49, was originally sentenced in 1995 to life in prison without possibility of parole for the fatal stabbing of Jennifer Ji, 25, and the suffocation of her five-month-old son, Kevin.
During that trial, Peng's lawyers claimed the husband was the killer. The jury was deadlocked at her first trial, but she was convicted at a retrial.
But in a 3-0 ruling last October, the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction on the grounds that police had failed to advise Peng of her rights, ignored her requests for a lawyer, demanded that she confess, and then used her husband as their agent to elicit incriminating statements.
The court unanimously denied review of a lower-court ruling that granted her a new trial on the grounds that she was coerced and deceived into incriminating herself through her husband, who cooperated with sheriff's deputies.
The bodies were found in a Mission Viejo apartment where Ji, Jim Peng's mainlander mistress, lived. He owned a company called Ranger Communications, which made CB radios in Asia.
The Pengs, parents of two sons, had divided their time between Taiwan and a home in Rancho Santa Margarita.
According to trial testimony, Lisa Peng knew of her husband's affair, which started in 1992, and had threatened to harm Ji. She once found them staying in the family home after returning from a trip to Taiwan, and later discovered the mistress' clothes and cut holes in them.
After the killings, Jim Peng agreed to help authorities by hunting through his wife's closet and then her financial records, for clues.
Then, according to a state appellate court, after Lisa Peng had been interrogated for many hours, officers sent the husband in to question her in Chinese.
Lisa Peng burst into tears and told him she had bitten his mistress in a confrontation hours before her death, and that Ji, who had 18 stab wounds, had accidentally stabbed herself after falling.
Authorities used her statement against her and matched her DNA to a bite mark on the victim's arm.
The highly-publicized trials in the mid-1990s made major headlines in Asia -- especially in Taiwan, home to both Pengs -- and even spawned a grisly Hong Kong-made murder mystery, called Lover's Lover.
The murder and subsequent trials have also been compared to the OJ Simpson case, as both involved two victims and DNA evidence.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source