Chen, Huo-Sheng

Facts

Chen Huo-Sheng and Lin Chin-Lung were accused of trafficking heroin from the Philippines to Taiwan with Chao Feng-Chu, Lin Chin-Chun, Hsieh Lung-Tsung and a man nicknamed “A-Chao.”

On May 18th, 2009, Lin Chin-Chun and Hsieh Lung-Tsung handed Chen Huo-Sheng a paper box after his fishing boat arrived at a dock in the Philippines. In the boxes were 16 bricks of heroin disguised in 3 DVD players. Chen sailed for Taiwan on May 19th; while Hsieh returned to Taiwan by plane on May 21st.

Chen’s fishing boat arrived in Taiwan in the morning of May 27th. Lin Chin-Chun contacted Lin Chin-Lung, informing him that the DVD players had arrived, and asked him to pick them up soon. Lin Chin-Lung and Chen Hou-Sheng, not knowing the importance and value of the heroin inside, both had their sons to run this errand for them. After Lin’s son returned from the dock, he also randomly placed the box at the front door of his house. Lin Chin-Lung then dialed the number written on the box to Chao Feng-Chu to inform her about the arrival of the broken machines. Chao passed the message to Hsieh Lung-Tsung, who was already on the way to retrieve the box. By the time he approached the box, Hsieh was caught on the spot by the police.

Despite the fact that both Chen Huo-Sheng and Lin Chin-Lung had claimed they knew nothing about the heroin, they were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment.

Issues

Lin Chin-Chun, the mastermind of the crime, was jailed in the Philippines for another case. Hence, he was not able to testify on the stand during Chen Huo-Sheng and Lin Chin-Lung’s trial, depriving them of their rights to cross-examination and confrontation. This is a serious violation of due process in the trial.

In 2015, Lin Chin-Chun was extradited back to Taiwan. In his confessions, he consistently stated that he had contacted multiple unknowing men for different favors in order to complete the drug-trafficking secretly. For example, beside Chen and Lin, he also had called another man who worked at the fishing port to check if Chen’s ship had arrived.

Retrial

Based on Lin Chin-Chun’s statements and the unknowing man’s testimony, the Kaohsiung High Court granted a retrial to Lin Chin-Lung, and found him not guilty twice.

However, the Kaohsiung High Court has denied the motions for retrial Chen Huo-Sheng for five times, In June, 2019, the Supreme Court finally remanded the case after the defense team filed 11 complaints. On October 23rd, 2020, the Court granted a retrial on the case and Chen was released from prison.

Exoneration

The Kaohsiung High Court summoned Lin Chin-Chun, the key witness, for testimony, and Lin directly testified that Chen Huo-Sheng knew nothing about drug trafficking. The prosecutor made a conclusion in favor of Chen during the oral argument as well. After five months of trial, the Court has found Chen not guilty, however,the prosecutor filed for an appeal. On August 17th, 2022, the Supreme Court denied the prosecutor’s appeal and Chen was exonerated at last.