The Defendant/Exoneree
Wu Chunhong (吴春红) was born on April 8, 1970. He was thirty-four years old when incarcerated and fifty years old when he was acquitted.
Facts
On November 14, 2004, Wang Zhansheng (王战胜, Wang), a villager in Zhougang Village of Minquan County, Henan Province, used flour in a scoop on the kitchen counter to make breakfast for his two children, who were three and five years old. Both children became ill after breakfast and were sent to hospital. The older child survived while the younger one died. A forensic test found that tetremethylene disulfotetramine (TETS), a commonly used rat poison, was found in the victim’s stomach. The same substance was found in the flour in Wang’s kitchen.
The police launched a sweeping investigation of the victim’s family and nearby villagers. When asked who had conflicts with the Wang family, Wang’s wife listed six or seven people. Wu Chunhong (WCH) was not among them.
Three days later, a villager named Wang Erxuan (WEX) told police that the day before the incident, WCH went with him to Wang Zhansheng’s house to pay their respective electricity bills. According to WEX, after the two men left the house but while they were still in the yard, WCH briefly disappeared from view and then reappeared about a minute later. However, when police asked him about it, WCH denied that he had been absent momentarily at Wang’s house. Police regarded WCH’s denial as suspicious.
Procedural History
On November 19, 2004, police took WCH to the police station for interrogation.
On November 20, 2004, police criminally detained WCH on suspicion of intentional homicide.
On December 02, 2004, the procuratorate formally arrested WCH.
On June 23, 2005, the Shangqiu Intermediate People's Court (“Intermediate Court”) convicted WCH of intentional homicide and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.
Upon WCH’s appeal, in December 2005, the Henan High People's Court (“High Court”) revoked the conviction and remanded the case to the Intermediate Court for retrial.
On June 22, 2006, the Intermediate Court again convicted WCH of intentional homicide and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.
Upon WCH's second appeal, in December 2006, the High Court again revoked the conviction and remanded the case for retrial.
On July 13, 2007, the Intermediate Court convicted WCH a third time of intentional homicide and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.
Upon WCH's third appeal, the High Court revoked the conviction and remanded the case for retrial.
On October 15, 2008, the Intermediate Court convicted WCH a fourth time of intentional homicide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Upon WCH’s fourth appeal, on July 06, 2009, the High Court sustained the conviction and sentence.
In August 2009, WCH was sent to prison.
Date of the Conviction
June 23, 2005
Date the Wrongful Conviction Was Vacated/Reversed
April 01, 2020
Days incarcerated
5,612 days
Why Was the Case Reopened
WCH and his family kept petitioning about his innocence over the years. They mailed more than 600 petition letters to various authorities asking for help to reopen the case. While in prison, WCH consistently refused to admit the crime or show any remorse, a precondition for receiving a commuted sentence.
WCH and his family received help from volunteer lawyers Li Changqing and Jin Hongwei, who reviewed the case file and committed themselves to rectify injustice in the case.
After the High Court rejected his petition for another retrial in December 2012, WCH petitioned to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC).
On September 29, 2018, the SPC decided to reopen the case and ordered the High Court to conduct a retrial.
Factors Contributing to the Wrongful Conviction
False Confession
WCH did not confess until he was severely tortured. Police beat and kicked him and threatened to detain his wife if he did not confess. He was interrogated and tortured outside of the detention center, where he should have been interrogated. When he was returned to the detention center, authorities there did not fill out a physical examination form to reflect WCH’s physical condition. As a result of torture, WCH provided false confessions and information that did not match many details found at the crime scene. He recanted his false confessions as soon as the first trial started.
Problematic Forensic Evidence
The police conducted a polygraph test on WCH after the case was sent back for retrial for the third time, but they failed to follow proper procedures and did not ask WCH any control questions. (In addition, scientists have shown that polygraph tests are not scientifically valid or reliable.)
The autopsy report did not say anything about flour dough mixed with TETS being found in the victim’s stomach. However, the forensic report said that a sample of the victim’s stomach contents was found to contain TETS. The police had no record showing the chain of custody of the sample of stomach contents.
Investigator’s Errors
Wang’s wife told the police several names of persons whom she believed to have conflicts with her family. She did not mention WCH. Investigators did not look at persons who were on her list. Instead, the police pressed Wang to think of conflicts with WCH.
WCH told the police that he saw another person coming out of Wang’s house around the same time he was there. Police did not pursue this lead.
During the early investigation, multiple witnesses testified that Wang had once accused his wife of placing their own rat poison next to the flour in the kitchen. The investigators stopped looking into this after WCH confessed.
Other Developments
In 2004, the Ministry of Public Security launched a nation-wide three-year campaign to clear up pending homicide cases. The number of cleared homicide cases rose from 2,176 in 2003 to 5,910 in 2004. In this case, local police declared that the case was cleared one week after the crime occurred.
After his acquittal, on June 2, 2020, WCH filed a claim with the High Court for state compensation of RMB18.72 million. He eventually was awarded RMB2.62 million. WCH appealed to the SPC for review of the compensation in August 2020. On April 23, 2021, the SPC revised the High Court’s state compensation decision and awarded WCH RMB 3.14 million.