The suspect in last year’s election-eve shooting wants to apologize to his victim and his victim’s family in person, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) has admitted injuring Sean Lien (連勝文), a son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), and killing a bystander in the shooting on the eve of the Nov. 27 municipality elections.
Lin’s lawyer told the Banciao District Court that Lin hoped the case could be closed as soon as possible to avoid wasting public resources.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Lin has said that the shooting of Sean Lien was inadvertent and a case of mistaken identity.
Sean Lien was invited to stump for then-Taipei County Deputy Council Speaker Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) that night. A video clip of the shooting shows Lin running up to Sean Lien from behind and grabbing hold of him. As the two men struggled and lost their balance, Lin reached up and shot Sean Lien in the face.
Prosecutors claimed that Lin was planning to fire a second shot, but failed because he was immediately apprehended.
Sean Lien was taken to hospital and released 10 days after the incident. However, a bystander was killed after being hit in the head by the bullet after it had passed through Lien’s cheek.
Prosecutors have recommended that Lin be given the death penalty after indicting him in January on charges of manslaughter, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
According to prosecutors, Lin had planned to shoot Chen “to settle a land dispute with the family.”
Chen, however, insists that his family has not had any contact with the suspect.
He urged the prosecution to go after the “real mastermind” behind the shooting.
The case has stirred controversy as the Democratic -Progressive Party believes the shooting might have helped Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the election.
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