﹝The Condemned Who Is Innocent: Zheng, Xing—Ze﹞

After Ten Years since the Final Judgement, It Was the First Time that the Court Came on Trial for Him

For Approval of the Retrial, It Is First Time for the Court to Hold a Trial for the Defendant Who Was Sentenced to Death in the Final Judgement

The Taichung High Court approved for the retrial which was requested by the Prosecutors Office and lawyers for Zheng’s case. It was for the first time both prosecutors and lawyers engaged to file the retrial in interest of the condemned. Taichung High Court summoned Zheng on April 12 at 14:30. Also was the first time for the Court to hold a trial for the defendant who was sentenced to death, for the approval of a retrial.
The main purpose of this trial was to let the prosecutors and lawyers explain the reasons for applying for a retrial and let the victims’ family express their thoughts.

Prosecutor: Zheng Should Be Judged as Innocent

In the court, the prosecutor of Taichung High Prosecutors Office said that after the final judgement, Zheng initiated the post—conviction reviews many times; his lawyers also applied for the retrial and the prosecutor general filed an extraordinary appeal for him. In the end, nothing worked. However, after Article 420 — Code of Criminal Procedure was modified, it broadened the conditions for retrials. In addition, it hadn’t used forensic science evidences earlier, so the prosecutor entrusted Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine in National Taiwan University to do so.
The prosecutor specially pointed out there were no witnesses that directly confirmed that somebody gave the Clock gun to Zheng and there were no objective evidences to prove if Zheng shot or not. Thus, it only used the oral—confession evidences to judge him. According to the analysis of the position, the direction and the timing of Luo Wu—Xiong and Su Xian—Pi were shot, as presented by the Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine in National Taiwan University, the court should release the accused.

Defense Team: the Oral—Confession Analysis of Judicial Psychology Showed that His Confession has a Higher Possibility to Be Wrong

The prosecutor of Taichung High Prosecutors Office applied for the retrial on March 18 and Zheng’s lawyers did the same on March 31. This was the fourth time for lawyers to file the retrial since 2011. The prosecutor’s new evidence for the retrial was the reconstruction of crime scenes and based on this, the person who shot wasn’t Zheng. And for the lawyers, they asked judicial psychology experts to analyze the confessions that were made before the accused was questioned by the prosecutor and police. In addition, the experts reviewed the environment when Zheng was being questioned, the personality of Zheng and the content he answered. From the above points, they thought the confession made by Zheng about the crime has a big possibility to be wrong and it cannot be considered.

Lawyer Luo Bing—Cheng: Considering the case of death sentence, there is no possibility to return, so the trial should be started again

In the court, Coordinator of Zheng’s duty lawyers group, Luo Bing—Cheng expressed that they already had the reconstruction of crime scene and oral—confession evidences, so it accorded with the condition of having new evidences for a retrial. According to the comment about the new laws for retrials by the Supreme Court: [When evidences are doubtful, judges should make a decision that benefits the defendants]. As long as we have a reasonable doubt about the original and final judgement, we should start the retrial. Needless to say that this is the case about death penalty. If it is wrongly executed, it is impossible to rectify. So we should broaden the conditions for retrials. Both prosecutors and lawyers applied for the retrial, it was enough for us to have a reasonable doubt about the original and final judgement：[Two positions from where the police was shot]

Lawyer Chou Sian—Jhih: An innocent person is in prison for one more day; the country will have to bear the cost one more day.

The appraisal made by Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine in
National Taiwan University pointed that the police was shot thrice when he was falling.
In the court, one of the members of Zheng’s duty lawyers group Chou Sian Jhih
said that Zheng was the first person to have mentioned that. In the trial in 2005, Zheng enquired the forensic officers about the same.
Chou Sian Jhih also pointed out that Zheng had stated he was innocent and certainly didn’t shoot. During his detention time, the assessment made by Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine in National Taiwan University proved he was right.
[An innocent man is in prison one more day, he or she will have more possibility to be executed. It hurts not only the defendant but also his or her family members. Besides, the country will have to bear the cost one more day]. Chou Sian Jhih’s thought was that the term should be stopped as soon as possible, start the retrial and let Zheng get back to his normal life.

Lawyer Li Xuan—Yi: Miscarriage of justice should be corrected; courts, prosecutors and lawyers should respect the judicial system

The member of Zheng’s duty lawyers group Li Xuan—Yi said, “Prosecutors and lawyers both applied for the retrial; hope our judicial system does not misjudge any innocent people. And this specially shows the value of judicial practitioners. In the court, he also said, “Zheng had been kept in the jail for 14 years; we, both the prosecutors and lawyers are here together for the same purpose. Now we hope the judges are by our side as well in order to avoid the critical mistakes and retain the dignity of judicial system.

Zheng Xing—Ze: I didn’t shoot the police

After ten years, it was the first time that Zheng got an opportunity to defend himself in the court on his own. Zheng expressed that he didn’t take the gun and shoot the police and his confession was made because of the torture given by the police. Zheng also requested the prosecutor to stop his execution and let him free as soon as possible.

Support group for Zheng Xing Ze was established

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty found the unjust case of Zheng Xing Ze in 2010, and since then it started the rescuing movement along with Taiwan Association for Innocence. Following immediately, other groups that focus on the human rights and Zheng’s supporters joined the movement that Included Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Judicial Reform Foundation, Humanistic Education Foundation, Taiwan Democracy Watch, and Taichung Culture Action and so on. In addition, Zheng’s family members and his high school classmates also attended the court sessions to support him. Therefore, Zheng Xing Ze’s support group was found formally which stood with Zheng to fight to prove his innocence.

Zheng’s younger brother: Hope my brother is let free as soon as possible

Zheng’s mother and his younger brother attended the trial that day. His brother said that the prosecutor having already considered Zheng wasn’t the murderer, hoped the court would release his brother as soon as possible.

Lin Xin—Yi: An innocent person is made to be guilty; nobody is an exception

The CEO of Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Lin Xin—Yi said that she contacted Zheng after the final judgement in 2006 and knew that he believed he was innocent. The writer Zhang Juan—Fen found some queries about his case, enquired lawyer Luo Bing—Cheng to analyze it and assumed that Zheng indeed was innocent. Gradually, Taiwan Association for Innocence was found and it made a rescuing group to save him. We are glad that Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Judicial Reform Foundation, Humanistic Education Foundation, Taichung Culture Action and other groups all together supported Zheng Xing Ze.
Lin Xin—Yi said, “Support group for Zheng Xing Ze has been established and we would keep fighting for Zheng”.

Qiu Yi—Ling: The truth should be clarified and let Zheng Xing Ze be released as soon as possible

The member of Support Group for Zheng Xing Ze and the secretary—general of Taiwan Association for Human Rights Qiu Yi—Ling attended the proceedings to support Zheng and indicated that Su Jian—Han, Zhuang Lin—Xun and Liu Bing—Lang had to wait for 21 years to be set free. Jiang Guo—Qing had no chance however to get his freedom and for that reason hoped at least Zheng wouldn’t have to wait anymore and could be free as soon as possible. Qiu Yi—Ling also said that she felt sorry for the death of the police but the truth should be clarified. “Hope the court can allow the retrial and let Zheng be a free man”.

Li Xuan—Yi: Forensic science should be valued more

Li Xuan—Yi who is the defense attorney for Zheng and the executive committee of Judicial Reform Foundation referred that Judicial Reform Foundation and Taiwan Association for Innocence kept emphasizing the importance of forensic science earlier and also the new assessments could prove the innocence of Zheng. “Hope forensic science would be valued more in the future”.

Zheng Xing Ze has waited for the freedom for 5210 days; let us stop counting

After the appeal against the final judgement was rejected by the Supreme Court on May 25^th of 2006, he kept insisting that he was innocent and didn’t give up the hope. On April 12^th, the 5210^th day of Zheng’s imprisonment, the Support Group for Zheng Xing Ze provided the letter that Zheng had written to the chief prosecutor, Yan Da—Han. In the letter, Zheng had thanked Yan Da—Han for applying the extraordinary appeal in favor of him. He had also thanked the prosecutor of Taichung High Prosecutors Office for applying for the retrial and had hoped the prosecutor would stop the execution before the retrial and release him as soon as possible.

[The chronicle event]

2011/03/03 Duty lawyers group was established and applied for
extraordinary appeal for the first time
2011/06/28 Supreme Prosecutors Office rejected the apply for extraordinary
appeal
2011/08/05 Applied for retrial for the first time
2011/10/25 Taichung High Court rejected the apply for retrial
2011/10/28 Duty lawyers group instituted the interlocutory appeal
2011/12/13 Supreme court rejected the interlocutory appeal
2011/12/21 Duty lawyers group applied for retrial for the second time
2012/02/01 Taichung High Court rejected the apply for retrial
2012/02/06 Duty lawyers group instituted the interlocutory appeal
2012/03/23 Supreme court dismissed the original ruling and returned the case to
Taichung High Court
2012/05/12 Press release—[Cry during the ten Mother’s days]: Help Zheng to seek
for the chance to apply for retrial
2012/06/26 Taichung High Court rejected the apply for retrial
2012/07/02 Duty lawyers group instituted the interlocutory appeal
2012/09/13 Supreme court rejected the interlocutory appeal
2012/09/17 Applied for extraordinary appeal for the second time
2012/12/10 Supreme Prosecutors Office rejected the applied for extraordinary
appeal
2012/12/14 Amnesty International initiated the emergency rescue
2012/12/20 Duty lawyers group applied for the constitutional interpretation
2013/01/03 [The police hides the evidences; the condemned Zheng Xing Ze
suffered for 11 years] Press Conference
2013/08/14《Murder in KTV》was published,《I am innocent, I am Zheng Xing Ze》
premiered
2013/12/18 Second time to apply for the constitutional interpretation by the duty
lawyers
2014/03/12 Report of Control Yuan pointed six doubts
2014/04/29 Requested the extraordinary appeal for the third time by the duty
lawyers
[First mission for the new prosecutor chief－Rescue immediately for
unjust cases about death penalty] Press Release
2014/05/23 Requested the retrial for the third time by the duty lawyers
2014/08/22 Chief prosecutor, Yan Da—Han requested the extraordinary
appeal
2014/08/27 Taichung High Court rejected the apply for the retrial
2014/09/09 Duty lawyers instituted the interlocutory appeal
2014/10/22 Rescuing team held an activity named「Zheng Xing Ze’s life」
2015/01/30 The Supreme Court rejected the interlocutory appeal against retrial
2015/08/27 The Supreme Court rejected the extraordinary appeal
2015/10/01 Duty lawyers requested the constitutional interpretation for the third
time
2016/03/18 Taichung High Prosecutor Office applied for the retrial, which was the
first time to do for a person who was sentenced to death
2016/03/31 Forth time to apply for the retrial by the duty lawyers
2016/04/12 Taichung High Court came on the trial before the retrial and summoned
Zheng Xing Ze