A San Gabriel Valley man was discovered responsible of homicide by an Alhambra court docket Wednesday of bludgeoning his two nephews to dying throughout an in a single day rampage that started when he attacked and hospitalized his spouse in 2016.
Deyun Shi, 52, was convicted on two counts of homicide with a particular circumstance for utilizing a lethal weapon within the deaths of 15-year-old Anthony Lin and 16-year-old William Lin. He additionally was discovered responsible of 1 felony depend of injuring his then-spouse, Yujin “Amy” Lin.
However in a weird twist, family allege that Shi’s spouse might have been instigating her husband to behave out violently for her personal monetary profit.
In the meantime, Shi and his authorized workforce had been again in court docket Thursday attempting to ascertain an madness protection.
A name to Shi’s protection workforce was not instantly returned.
The details and timeline of the occasions that befell on Jan. 21, 2016, and into the early hours of the next morning weren’t in dispute.
Shi had discovered that Lin was submitting for divorce that afternoon, in response to court docket paperwork.
The rich importer and businessman left a Pasadena courthouse the place phrases of a restraining order made by his mother-in-law in opposition to him had been being mentioned. A short while later, he initiated wire transfers totaling barely lower than $450,000 to individuals in his Chinese language hometown.
Later that night time, Shi assaulted his spouse on the household residence in La Cañada Flintridge.
Shi hit her with a steel wood-splitting instrument whereas she sat subsequent to their 8-year-old son, fracturing her nostril and slashing her face.
Shi’s teenage son finally wrested the weapon out of his father’s hand shortly earlier than midnight.
As Shi left the house, Lin referred to as her brother, David W. Lin, and sister-in-law Vicki Huang, in response to court docket paperwork. David Lin and Huang met Lin on the hospital and left their two sons residence alone.
Shi then drove to the Arcadia residence of his brother- and sister-in-law. There, he savagely beat a sleeping Anthony Lin to dying with a 2-foot-long pair of bolt cutters, prosecutors alleged. William Lin, 16, was awake and tried to fend off Shi earlier than he was crushed to dying with a lead pipe, allege prosecutors.
“Detectives discovered the bloody bolt cutters wrapped in a towel in [Shi’s] automotive, with DNA from each Anthony and William on it,” Deputy Dist. Atty. MacKenzie Teymouri stated in court docket final month. “He acquired a parking ticket whereas he was inside killing the kids.”
Shi’s attorneys have contended that their shopper was affected by a schizoaffective dysfunction and put up traumatic stress introduced on by the divorce paperwork.
“This isn’t about whether or not our shopper dedicated these acts — he did,” protection lawyer Vicki Podberesky informed jurors Feb. 29. “This case is about psychological well being.”
After the slayings, Shi put collectively a journey bag that included six foreign currency and IDs from three nations. He caught a Cathay Pacific Airways flight to Hong Kong and paid for a seat improve with money.
He was arrested by Hong Kong police and extradited again to California solely after prosecutors assured Chinese language officers that they might not search the dying penalty.
“Mr. Shi was appearing underneath an energetic psychological sickness,” Podberesky stated in court docket. “He didn’t have the requisite way of thinking to have dedicated the murders as charged on this case.”
The prosecution spent portion of the case documenting Shi’s violent and offended outbursts in opposition to his spouse that escalated in 2015, in response to court docket testimony from his now former spouse.
In December 2015, Shi almost strangled Lin to dying in early December, in response to testimony. That month, he additionally tried to suffocate her with a pillow earlier than she fought again.
On Dec. 30, Shi and David Lin fought when Shi drove to the home of Lin’s mom and forcibly tried to seize his spouse and take her residence.
David Lin referred to as 911, however later declined to press prices.
David Lin, nevertheless, inspired his sister and mom to file a restraining order in opposition to Shi, in response to court docket paperwork.
Telephone information offered in court docket confirmed that Shi made a number of web searches concerning California divorce regulation, Chinese language extradition insurance policies and the circumstance by which killers acquired gentle jail sentences.
The prosecution believes Shi murdered David Lin’s and Huang’s sons out of revenge.
In a twist, the couple filed a wrongful dying lawsuit in opposition to Shi and Yujin Lin.
David Lin and Huang stated in court docket paperwork that they believed Yujin Lin didn’t need to cut up her household’s property with Shi upon divorce.
They allege within the lawsuit that Yujin Lin concocted a plan to so enrage her husband that he would act violently and finally be incarcerated. Along with her husband in jail, the lawsuit claims, Yujin Lin may management the marital properties in the USA and China.
The tip results of the plan, the lawsuit alleges, was the dying of the 2 sons.
The wrongful dying trial was positioned on maintain for the prison case to be accomplished and is anticipated to renew April 22.
