Shen Liujin Murder Case 沈六斤”故意杀人案

The defendant/exoneree 

  • Shen Liujin (沈六斤) (Fang Weishe 方未社). DOB unknown.

Facts

  • Shen Liujin (Shen) and Fu Ruiwa, both from the Fugou Village of Mayuan Township in Longnan City of Gansu Province, were in a relationship. However, Fu’s parents would not allow their daughter to marry Shen. On February 12, 1992, Shen, in a fight with Fu’s parents, killed Fu’s mother with a knife and injured her father with an axe. The crime happened in Gansu Province. Shen then escaped.

  • More than twenty years later, the police of the Public Securities Bureau of Manas County of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region apprehended a man they believed to be Shen during a regular check of persons without official IDs on January 28, 2013. the man admitted to the crime.

Procedural history 

  • On December 18, 2013, the man identified as Shen was convicted of intentional murder and sentenced to the death penalty with two years’ reprieve by Longnan Intermediate People’s Court of Gansu Province. He did not appeal.

  • Upon the victim’s family’s appeal, Gansu Provincial High People’s Court sustained the conviction on May 20, 2014. Shen was sent to prison on September 15, 2014.  

Date of the conviction

January 28, 2013

Date the wrongful conviction was reversed

July 15, 2016

Days incarcerated

1,265

Why was the case reopened/reversed 

Factors contributing to the wrongful conviction

False confession

  • Fang voluntarily made a false confession. He stated that the police did not torture or force him to confess, and that his admission was truthful. During the hearing, he also did not want to go to court to play the recording of the police interrogation.

  • In Fang’s confession, he addressed Fu Ruiwa (Shen’s girlfriend) as Fu Yan’er. But Fu’s own testimony claimed that her boyfriend Shen addressed her as Ruiwa not Fu Yan’er.

Flawed police investigation

  • The police relied on Fang’s admission and witness identification to identify him and did not attempt to verify his identity in any other way.

Dubious witness identification/statements

  • Two relatives of the victim on separate occasions identified Fang as Shen from among eight photographs. In later interviews with the special work group, they admitted that their identification of Fang was not accurate.

Information sources