The Supreme Court in a retrial on Friday upheld the life sentence handed to convicted murderer Liu Chih-ming (劉志明), formally removing him from death row, where he has been for the better part of the past decade.
Liu’s case is the first time the court commuted a death sentence to a life term, after the Constitutional Court on Sept. 20 found the death penalty constitutional, but said it should be limited to special and exceptional circumstances.
The judgement was issued in response to a court challenge made by 37 prisoners on death row, who had filed the petition through their lawyers, saying that capital punishment was unconstitutional.
Photo: Taipei Times
Liu was convicted of sexual assault and larceny resulting in homicide for the violent murder of a woman in 2014 and was handed the death sentence.
In an appeal, the Kaohsiung branch of the High Court upheld the death penalty for Liu. The sentence was also upheld in the three retrials.
Liu, aged 52 at the time, in December 2014 was carrying a hammer while looking for his former girlfriend when he came upon a woman, a retired teacher surnamed Chen (陳), opening her car door, court documents showed.
Liu decided to rob Chen, who he had never met before, and attacked her. He used the hammer to strike her head 13 times, sexually assaulted her, bit off her nipple and took NT$2,000 from her purse, prosecutors said, citing evidence and recorded police statements.
Judges upheld the death penalty, saying it was a severe crime, as Liu had killed Chen by vicious and cruel means, and sexually assaulted her, adding that there was no likelihood of rehabilitation and that Liu should be permanently separated from society.
The High Court in the fourth retrial in May commuted Liu’s sentence to life in prison, saying there was a lack of evidence that Liu took the NT$2,000 and that Chen was a random target, so it was not premeditated murder and therefore did not fall under “most serious crimes,” according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It also cited results of psychological assessments and pre-sentence investigations, saying that there was a possibility of rehabilitation for Liu, as he had shown remorse for the crime. Public prosecutors disagreed and filed to appeal the fourth retrial.
The Supreme Court in its ruling then upheld the life sentence handed to Liu in the fourth retrial, which is the final verdict.
Groups in favor of the death penalty were joined by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in condemning the Constitutional Court’s ruling last month, saying “it effectively abolished capital punishment in Taiwan” and that “the decision runs contrary to the expectations of the majority of Taiwanese.”
They also requested the Ministry of Justice to swiftly carry out the execution of the 37 convicted prisoners currently on death row.
The Taiwan People’s Party caucus yesterday said it would propose an amendment to the Criminal Code so that those handed a life sentence would not be given parole.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
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