Chen Man Murder Case 陈满故意杀人案

The defendant/exoneree  

  • Chen Man (陈满) was born on February 18, 1963; he was twenty-nine years old when he was incarcerated and was fifty-three years old when he was finally acquitted.

Facts 

Procedural History  

  • On December 28, 1992, Chen was held in a form of custody called “sheltering for investigation (SFI, 收容审查).

  • On September 25, 1993, the police officially arrested Chen.

  • On November 29, 1993, Chen was indicted on the charge of murder by the Haikou People’s Procuratorate of Hainan Province.  

  • On November 9, 1994, Chen was convicted of the charges of murder and arson and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by the Haikou Intermediate People’s Court of Hainan Province. The prosecution appealed to the Hainan Provincial High People’s Court (Hainan High Court) on the ground that the sentence was too lenient. 

  • On April 15, 1999, the appeal was denied, and the original judgment was sustained. Chen was sent to prison to serve his time.

  • On February 10, 2015, upon Chen’s petition, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) filed an appeal to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) to reopen this case. 

  • On April 24, 2015, the SPC decided to reopen the case and ordered the Zhejiang Provincial High People’s Court (Zhejiang High Court) to retry it. 

  • On January 25, 2016, the Zhejiang High Court acquitted Chen on the ground of insufficient evidence

Date of the wrongful conviction  

November 9, 1994

Date the wrongful conviction was reversed  

January 25, 2016

Days incarcerated

8,428

Why was the case reopened/reversed  

Factors contributing to the wrongful conviction

  • Forced confession

    • At first, Chen didn’t confess to the crime. He claimed the police had whipped, beaten, and scalded him to force his confession. Chen’s confession was inconsistent, and his statements on the timing, methods, and weapon used did not match the crime scene investigation, the forensic report, or the testimony of witnesses. Among his 13 statements, he recanted his confession multiple times

  • Tunnel vision

    • Several witnesses testified that Chen had an alibi when Zhong was murdered. Some said they saw Chen at the construction site. Others claimed they watched television and played mahjong with Chen. But the investigators and the judges at the first trial dismissed Chen’s alibis without investigating them.  

    • The police found a pair of glasses at the crime scene. Neither Zhong nor Chen wore glasses. The police did not follow this lead when looking for suspects.

    • The autopsy report concluded that Zhong was stabbed to death by a sharp instrument. Chen’s lawyers claimed that the kitchen cleaver the police found at the crime scene could not make the type of wounds sustained by the victim.  

  • Lack of scientific evidence

    • The alleged murder weapon - the kitchen cleaver – was not tested for DNA or fingerprints. 

    • A bloody shirt, which the police claimed to have found at the crime scene, was never presented as evidence to the court. No DNA test was performed to identify whose blood was on the shirt. 

  • Failure to preserve and present evidence

Other developments

  • SFI was officially abolished in 1996 when China amended its Criminal Procedure Law.

  • On March 14, 2016, Chen filed a lawsuit with the Hainan High Court for state compensation of 9.66 million RMB. On May 13, 2016, the state compensation case was settled for 2.75 million RMB.