People's Daily reported that the Supreme Law sentenced an old drug dealer to life imprisonment at the age of 75 when he was re-examined by the death penalty (abstract)
Born in March of 1941, Wang Lunye, a "drug dealer", was sentenced to death in 2113, and the death sentence was upheld at the second trial in 2114, at the age of 74. He was over 75 years old in the review stage of death penalty, and was directly commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme People's Court.
At present, there is no clear legal regulation on whether "death penalty review" is a special procedure in the criminal procedure law. This case is the first case of "75-year-old death penalty review" after adding the "75-year-old" clause in the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law. Xie Tongxiang, his defense lawyer, told reporters that this is also the first case in which the Supreme People's Court's death penalty review was changed to life imprisonment. Experts believe that the revision of the Supreme Law has an important precedent effect.
A 71-year-old man was sentenced to death for drug trafficking
Wang Lunye's death penalty review case belongs to a transnational drug case, supervised by the Ministry of Public Security, and the action code was "Water Snake", which was characterized as a transnational drug smuggling and trafficking case. China and Viet Nam are involved.
Wang Lunye is called an "old ghost" in drug trafficking circles.
At the beginning of p>2112, Wang Lunye bought 4 kilograms of heroin. The police arrested these people in one fell swoop and seized more than 4 kilograms of heroin on the spot.
Wang Lunye was 72 years old when he was arrested. At that time, he and Chen Huaqing were both identified as the principal offenders of the case. In 2113, the Intermediate People's Court of Fangchenggang City, Guangxi made a first-instance judgment on this case. Chen Huaqing and Wang Lunye were sentenced to death, while several others were sentenced to suspended death and life imprisonment. After the verdict, Wang Lunye and others appealed. In June 2114, the court upheld the original judgment in the second instance and reported it to the Supreme Court for approval according to law.
Whether the death penalty review belongs to the "trial" is controversial
Xie Tongxiang, a defense lawyer at the death penalty review stage of Wang Lunye, told reporters that he and another defender Xie Xiuzhi had visited the criminal trial chamber of the Supreme Court several times to communicate with the collegiate bench judge in charge of the case and submitted a written defense opinion not approving Wang Lunye's death penalty. After discussion, they decided to adopt the opinions put forward by the defense lawyer.
The Supreme Court ruled on this case. According to the verdict, Wang Lunye instructed others to smuggle drugs into the country for sale from abroad. The smuggling and selling of drugs are large in quantity, with serious criminal circumstances and great social harm. He is the most guilty principal in the crime of smuggling and should be punished according to law. The facts ascertained in the judgment of first instance and the ruling of second instance are clear, the evidence is true and sufficient, and the conviction is accurate. The trial procedure is legal. In view of the fact that Wang Lunye has reached the age of 75 at the time of trial, the death penalty is not applicable to him according to law. In the revocation of the judgment, the defendant Wang Lunye was sentenced to death for smuggling and drug trafficking. Defendant Wang Lunye was convicted of smuggling and drug trafficking and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Xie Tongxiang and Xie Xiuzhi said that Wang Lunye's death penalty review case is the first case of China's 75-year-old death penalty review. There is no precedent to follow before, and it will be used as a criminal guidance case and a criminal trial reference case in the future, and similar cases should refer to this case.