The defendant/exoneree
Tan Xiuyi (谭修义). He was born in 1954, and was thirty-nine years old when detained and sixty years old when exonerated.
Facts
On July 16, 1993, Tan Xiuyi (“Tan”) went to a fellow villager’s home to chat after supper. About 8 p.m. that night, victim Tan B, who was hanging out with Tan’s two daughters, stayed with them at Tan’s house. Tan went home about 10 pm. The next morning, Tan woke his younger daughter for school. After the daughter left, Tan B got up, told Tan’s mother that she had to go home to fix a meal, and left.
After Tan B left Tan’s house on July 17, 1993, Tan went out with his wife to do farm work and came back home around 5 p.m.
Around 3 p.m. on July 17, 1993, a fellow villager surnamed Liu and his wife went to Tan B’s house and saw her body hanging from the ceiling beam. Liu immediately smashed the lock on the door with a shovel. Liu’s wife went to get help from other villagers. They went inside to take down Tan B’s body, and found Tan B’s parents had been murdered. Tan B’s mother was found with a half a broken sickle stuck in her throat.
Forensic reports concluded that Tan B had been strangled to death, and Tan B’s parents had been killed by a sharp instrument and a blunt instrument, respectively.
Procedural history
On July 21, 1993, Tan was detained on suspicion of murder.
On December 14, 1999, Tan was convicted of murder and sentenced to death with two-year reprieve by the Zhoukou Intermediate People’s Court (“Intermediate Court”) in Henan Province.
Tan appealed his conviction. On May 18, 2000, the Henan Provincial High People’s Court (“High Court”) remanded the case to the Intermediate Court on the grounds that the facts of the case were unclear.
On January 1, 2002, the Intermediate Court retried the case, convicted Tan of rape and murder, and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.
Upon Tan’s second appeal, on July 31, 2003, the High Court affirmed the Intermediate Court’s decision and approved Tan’s sentence. Tan was sent to prison.
Date of the conviction
December 14, 1999
Date the wrongful conviction was reversed
December 16, 2022
Days incarcerated
10,744
Why was the case reopened/reversed
Tan petitioned many times while serving his time in prison.
His family petitioned to the High Court in December 2016. One year later, the High Court dismissed Tan’s petition for retrial on the grounds that the conviction and sentencing were appropriate and were supported by clear facts and reliable and sufficient evidence.
Tan’s family petitioned to the Henan Provincial People’s Procuratorate (“Provincial Procuratorate”) in May 2017. The Provincial Procuratorate determined that the conviction was erroneous and was based on unclear facts and unreliable and insufficient evidence. Therefore, it filed a request to appeal with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (“SPP”) on June 18, 2020.
The SPP appealed to the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) for retrial on March 16, 2022.
The SPC decided to reopen the case on July 18, 2022 and remanded it to the High Court for retrial.
On October 20, 2022, Tan was released from the prison after serving his time.
On December 16, 2022, the High Court acquitted Tan.
Factors contributing to the wrongful conviction
False confession
Tan was tortured by the police to confess. Except for Tan’s five inculpatory statements to the police, there was no direct evidence to prove that Tan committed rape and murder, or connect Tan with the crimes.
Tan made multiple exculpatory statements of his innocence for the first three days of his detention. But none of these were recorded by the police.
Tan’s signatures in his inculpatory statements were fabricated.
The details of Tan’s inculpatory statements contradicted each other and the forensic evidence. For example, for the rape charge, Tan said that Tan B was wearing pants, but the forensic reports and witness statements indicated that she was wearing a skirt.
Investigator’s tunnel vision
Forensic testing of the red stains at the crime scene indicated that elements of blood were found, but they were not conclusive and did not connect the stains with Tan.
Witness statements proved Tan’s activities before and after the crime, but didn’t prove Tan committed the crime.
Other Developments
In September 19, 2023, Tan received RMB 7.87 million (US$1.08 million) as state compensation.