Zeng Aiyun Murder Case (曾爱云故意杀人案)

The defendant/exoneree 

  • Zeng Aiyun (曾爱云), born on January 1, 1977. He was twenty-seven years old when detained and thirty-eight years old when acquitted.

Facts

  • On October 27, 2003, Zhou Yuheng (“Zhou”), a graduate student of mechanical engineering at Xiangtan University in Hunan Province, was found strangled to death outside the south tower of the university’s School of Engineering. Zeng Aiyun (“Zeng”) and Chen Huazhang (“Chen”), who went to the same school as Zhou, were investigated by the police for suspicion of murder.

  • Chen and Zhou had the same advisory professor and was jealous of Zhou academically. From October 22, 2003 to October 27, 2003, Chen had gone to four different hospitals under a false name and obtained prescriptions for forty-eight tablets of diazepam, which was found in the victim’s stomach. At Chen’s place, the police found a cord, a plastic cup containing diazepam, some unfinished diazepam bottles, prescriptions for diazepam and the victim’s cellphone.

  • Zeng was affectionate toward Zhou’s then girlfriend Li Xia (“Li”). On the day of Zhou’s death, Zeng had met with Li and Zhou and told them he would stop pursuing Li. Zeng collapsed to the ground when he learned the victim was Zhou.

Procedural history 

  • Zeng and Chen were placed under criminal detention on October 29, 2003 and were formally arrested on November 11, 2003.  

  • On June 15, 2004, Zeng and Chen were indicted for intentional murder by the Xiangtan People’s Procuratorate (“Xiangtan Procuratorate”).

  • On September 10, 2004, Zeng and Chen were convicted by the Xiangtan Intermediate People’s Court (“Intermediate Court”) and were sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively.

  • Upon both defendants’ appeal, on August 1, 2005, the Hunan Provincial High People’s Court (“High Court”) vacated the conviction on the grounds of unclear facts and further investigation required, and remanded the case to the Intermediate Court for retrial.

  • On December 2, 2005, the Intermediate Court again convicted the defendants and upheld the original sentencing.

  • Upon both defendants’ second appeal, the High Court sustained the conviction on May 28, 2008 and sent the case to the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) for death penalty review.  

  • On September 25, 2008, the SPC disapproved Zeng’s death sentence and remanded the case to the High Court for retrial.

  • On March 30, 2009, the High Court vacated Zeng’s conviction and sentence, and remanded the case to the Intermediate Court for retrial.

  • On June 25, 2010, the Intermediate Court, for the third time, convicted both defendants and sentenced Zeng to death, and Chen to life imprisonment.

  • Upon the two defendants’ appeal, on August 23, 2011, the High Court vacated the conviction and remanded the case to the Intermediate Court for retrial on the grounds that “the trial violated the procedure law for the evidence used to convict the defendants was not present and examined in the trial court.”

  • On July 20, 2015, the Intermediate Court acquitted Zeng on the grounds of unclear facts and insufficient evidence, and convicted Chen and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Zeng was released on July 21, 2015.

  • The two defendants appealed again to the High Court, where Zeng requested the court to recognize his factual innocence.

  • On October 30, 2015, the High Court rejected the appeal and sustained Intermediate Court’s ruling.

Date of the conviction

September 10, 2004

Date the wrongful conviction was reversed

July 20, 2015

Days incarcerated

4,284

Why was the case reopened/reversed 

Factors contributing to the wrongful conviction

Information sources