The Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court will publicly pronounce the verdict of the appellant Wang Shujin on the rape and intentional homicide case at 10 a.m. today in the trial court of the Handan Intermediate People's Court. Because this case has been implicated in the suspicion of "two murderers in one case" in the Nie Shubin case 19 years ago, it has attracted much public attention.

The prosecutor cited four major pieces of evidence to prove that Wang Shujin was not the real murderer

In 1994, a rape and murder occurred in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. Nie Shubin was charged as a suspect, and the following year was executed. In 2005, Henan police captured Wang Shujin, who admitted that he was the real culprit in the "Nie Shubin case".

The Intermediate People's Court of Handan City made a first-instance verdict on Wang Shujin's case in March 2007: the defendant Wang Shujin was guilty of intentional homicide and rape and was sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life. Wang Shujin was dissatisfied and appealed to the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court. The main reason was that "the prosecutors did not prosecute him for a rape and murder case in a cornfield in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang."

The Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court accepted the case in accordance with the law and held the second instance hearing. On the morning of July 10, 2013, the Hebei Provincial High Court held the third instance of the second instance at the Handan Intermediate People's Court to hear the appellant Wang Shujin's rape and rape. A case of intentional homicide. The trial started at 9 a.m. The first half of the trial was conducted in public on the facts of the murder, and the second half was conducted in private on the facts of the rape.

At the court hearing on the 10th, the prosecutor presented four sets of evidence including the autopsy report of the victim in the Nie Shubin case, on-site investigation records, and witness testimony to prove that Wang Shujin was not the real culprit in the Nie Shubin case.

The prosecutor believes that the rape and murder in the cornfield in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang in 1994 was not committed by Wang Shujin for four main reasons:

First, the victim’s body was wearing a white vest and a Nylon socks with corn stalks pressed on the neck. After removing the corn stalks, a floral shirt can be seen wrapped around the neck. However, Wang Shujin confessed that the victim was naked and did not confess that the victim had a flowery shirt wrapped around his neck.

Secondly, no fractures were found throughout the victim’s body, and the victim died of suffocation. However, Wang Shujin confessed that he first pinched the victim's neck and then stamped on his chest and abdomen, causing the victim's death on the spot. If the victim was stamped to death, it would be impossible for the body to have no fractures.

Third, the case occurred after 5 pm on August 5, 1994. The victim went to work in the afternoon. After getting off work at 5 o'clock, he took a shower with his colleagues and then rode his bike home along the dirt road between Xinhua Road and Kongzhai Village. He passed by the scene of the crime and was killed on the way. However, Wang Shujin always confessed that he committed the crime around 2:00 noon.

Fourthly, the victim was 1.52 meters tall, but Wang Shujin confessed that the victim was about the same height as him. Wang Shujin was 1.72 meters tall, 20 centimeters taller than the victim.

Wang Shujin insisted that the case was committed by himself

Wang Shujin mainly believed in his self-defense that the rape and murder case in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang was indeed committed by himself.

Defense lawyer Zhu Aimin expressed his opinion that Wang Shujin’s confession about the rape and murder in the cornfield in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang was made without external sources of information. Wang Shujin’s description of the crime scene and the on-site investigation The transcripts are highly consistent. Zhu Aimin believes that some of the details raised by the prosecutor are inconsistent with Wang Shujin’s confession. It should be considered that 19 years have passed since the incident, and ordinary people’s memory has declined, so the details cannot be required to be completely accurate.

In addition, Zhu Aimin also believed that some of the evidence presented by the prosecutor was flawed. For example, the autopsy report should have been signed by two staff members, but the autopsy report issued had only the signature of one staff member. Another staff member stamped the seal. In addition, the key physical evidence "flowered shirt" presented by the prosecutor only has photos, not the actual object.

Therefore, the defense believes that the crimes in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang confessed by Wang Shujin should be recognized in accordance with the law. Wang Shujin has performed major meritorious services and recommends that Wang Shujin be sentenced to death with a two-year suspended sentence.

The prosecutor admitted that there were indeed no witness signatures in the on-site investigation transcript, and there were minor formal flaws. But at the same time, it was emphasized that even if there are small flaws, they do not fall within the scope of illegal evidence exclusion.

Wang Shujin himself said in his final statement that he was the murderer of the rape and murder case in the cornfield in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang, and he asked the court to recognize this fact. He also said that he did not receive a correct education since he was a child, his family did not manage him well enough, and he did not study well, which resulted in crime. I regret it very much now. He said: "I hope to clarify some things, but I also know that some things cannot be confirmed now."

Experts say whether the Nie case can be vindicated or not has nothing to do with the outcome of the Wang case

The direction of Wang Shujin’s case has triggered a lot of speculation. Lawyer Zhu Aimin said that he thinks there are three possibilities for the outcome of Wang Shujin’s case: first, the Hebei Provincial High Court rejected Wang Shujin’s appeal and upheld the original verdict; second, the second-instance court determined that the facts of the first instance were unclear, There was insufficient evidence and the case was remanded for retrial; third, the Hebei Provincial High Court adopted the opinions of Wang Shujin and his defender and directly changed the sentence of the case.

The reason why the Wang Shujin case attracted public attention is closely related to the Nie Shubin case. Some criminal law experts believe that there is no necessary connection between how the Wang Shujin case is judged and whether the Nie Shubin case can be vindicated. Experts say that as long as the facts of Nie Shubin's case are unclear and the evidence is insufficient, he should be vindicated in accordance with the principle of "doubtless innocence." Whether the facts in the Nie case are unclear and the evidence is insufficient can only be determined through the case files.

Experts also said that at present, the judicial system of Hebei Province still does not allow lawyers to access all the files of the Nie Shubin case. The entire file of the Nie Shubin case cannot be made public, which has become the most important factor in whether the Nie case is vindicated or not. If Wang Shujin is executed, Nie Shubin's family will still have the opportunity to appeal and lodge a complaint. The Hebei Provincial Judicial System should release the entire Nie case file as soon as possible.