Supreme Court Reverses Death Penalty After Mediating with Victim's Family

情法并融力筑和谐 最高院依法调解一起故意杀人案

Xinhua News, 2009-07-22

After “meticulously and patiently conducting mediation work” with a murder victim's family, the Supreme People's Court declined to approve the death sentence of Deng Yongwang—found guilty of killing his former girlfriend, Wen Qiaoying—and remanded the case for retrial. Because the incident arose from a “love dispute,” the “circumstances and method of the crime were ordinary,” Deng acted to save Wen after injuring her, and he “sincerely repented the crime,” the Shanxi High Court and Supreme People's Court both decided that the case “did not demand death,” despite the repeated demands from Wen's family for Deng's execution and their refusal to accept financial compensation from his family. The Supreme People's Court attempted further mediation with Wen's family in the hopes of both preventing further bloodshed between the two families and “implementing the policy of 'strictly controlling and cautiously using the death penalty.'” After two trips to Shanxi, the court convinced Wen's family to accept a “reconciliation agreement” whereby they received 280,000RMB in compensation from Deng's family in exchange for “expressing forgiveness.”