Source title: The second trial of Lao Rongzhi’s intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping case publicly announced that the original sentence was upheld
On the morning of November 30, 2022, the Higher People’s Court of Jiangxi Province made a public judgment of the second instance on the appeal of Lao Rongzhi’s intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province found in the first instance: from 1996 to 1999, the defendant Lao Rongzhi conspired with Faziying (who had been executed), and Lao Rongzhi engaged in escort services in entertainment places to find targets for crimes. commit violence. The two committed 4 crimes of robbery, kidnapping, and intentional homicide in Nanchang City of Jiangxi Province, Wenzhou City of Zhejiang Province, Changzhou City of Jiangsu Province, and Hefei City of Anhui Province, resulting in the death of 7 victims. After the incident, Lao Rongzhi used aliases such as “Xue Li” to abscond for a long time, and was arrested and brought to justice by the public security organs on November 28, 2019. The Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court found the defendant Lao Rongzhi guilty of intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping, and punished him for several crimes. He decided to execute the death penalty, deprive him of political rights for life, and confiscate all his personal property.
After the verdict was pronounced, Lao Rongzhi appealed. The Jiangxi Provincial Higher People’s Court heard the case in public from August 18 to 20, 2022. The facts found in the second instance were consistent with those in the first instance. The Jiangxi Provincial Higher People’s Court held that in the joint crimes of intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping, Lao Rongzhi actively carried out activities such as scouting, deceiving, binding, guarding, and threatening victims, stepping on locations, withdrawing money, and purchasing crime tools, and had a clear division of labor with Faziying. Cooperating with each other constitutes an accomplice, and they are relatively independent and have obvious effects. The two committed multiple crimes in many places for four years. There is no evidence to prove that Lao Rongzhi was mentally controlled and coerced by Faziying. Lao Rongzhi also played a major role in the joint crime and should be identified as the principal culprit according to law.
The Jiangxi Provincial Higher People’s Court held that the appellant Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying deliberately and illegally deprived others of their lives constituted the crime of intentional homicide; for the purpose of illegal possession, they used violence and threats to rob other people’s property, which constituted the crime of robbery; The purpose of kidnapping others constitutes the crime of kidnapping. The several crimes committed by Lao Rongzhi should be punished in accordance with the law. Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying deliberately killed five people; the robbery caused one death and it was a house robbery, and the amount of robbery was huge; the kidnapping caused one death. , socially harmful, should be severely punished according to law. What Lao Rongzhi and his defense lawyer said did not constitute the crime of intentional homicide, but was an accomplice and coerced accomplice and other appeal reasons and defense opinions, which were inconsistent with the facts found in the second instance, had no basis in law, and should not be accepted according to law. The facts identified in the first-instance judgment were clear, the evidence was reliable and sufficient, the conviction was accurate, and the sentence was appropriate. The trial procedure is legal. The ruling dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment, and the death penalty ruling on Lao Rongzhi was submitted to the Supreme People’s Court for approval in accordance with the law.
During the trial of the second instance, the court protected the litigation rights of the appellant Lao Rongzhi and his defense lawyer in accordance with the law. The defense lawyer attended the sentencing. Some relatives of the parties, some deputies to the National People’s Congress, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, some media reporters, and people from all walks of life, a total of more than 60 people, attended the sentencing online or offline.
(Headquarters CCTV reporter Xi Danni Zhang Saiwu Bing Li Jingcheng Yan Wei)