New Developments in Case of the Hsichih Trio

Published: 11/2000
Source: Sinorama
By: Alexandra Liu

The controversial case of the Hsichih trio took a new turn recently when Su Chien-ho was granted leave by the Ministry of Justice to visit his dying father in the hospital. Su and two friends, Liu Bing-lang and Chuang Lin-hsun, have been in prison since 1991 for the murder of a couple in the Taipei suburb of Hsichih. Due to controversy surrounding their trial, the justice system has held off on carrying out their death sentences.

After the National Taiwan University Hospital issued a warning that Su Chuen-chang faced imminent death due to bronchial cancer, Su Chien-ho made an emergency application to be allowed out of Taipei Detention House to see his father. The Ministry of Justice approved Su's temporary release on humanitarian grounds, thus marking the first time ever that a person has been allowed out of death row in Taiwan to visit a relative.

Su, Liu, and Chuang were charged in 1991 for the murder of Wu Ming-han and his wife in Hsichih. Although they have been on death row since 1995, five successive Justice Ministers have declined to approve their execution orders due to the lack of any direct evidence linking the three to the crime. In the meantime, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Judicial Reform Foundation, and a number of other NGOs have worked continuously for a reversal of their convictions.

Efforts on behalf of the three have focused on obtaining either a retrial or a presidential pardon. Three special appeals against the conviction have been filed, surprisingly enough, by none other than the State Public Prosecutor General's Office, The trio's lawyers have also applied numerous times for a retrial, and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have spoken many times in support of the three men and called for a presidential pardon. These efforts have thus far proven unsuccessful, but Taiwan's Supreme Court ruled on October 27 that the case should be retried by the Taiwan High Court.

The murder of Wu Han-min and his wife Ye Ying-lan occurred in the early morning hours at their home in the township of Hsichih on March 24, 1991. A soldier named Wang Wen-hsiao, who was arrested by the military police that year on August 13, confessed that he had murdered the couple after breaking into their apartment because he needed money for the video arcades. Wang admitted to military investigators during initial questioning that six months earlier, acting alone, he had lowered himself down from the rooftop into his neighbors' apartment looking for money. When Wu Ming-han heard noises and woke up, Wang panicked and hacked both Wu and his wife to death with a meat cleaver. Wang then stole NT$6,000 before returning to his own apartment.

In his second interrogation session with the police, Wang further confessed that his younger brother Wang Wen-chung had stood lookout while he and three accomplices killed the couple. He only identified the other three as Hsieh Ching-hui, Blackie, and Black Boy, names that he is suspected of making up on the spot. Wang Wen-chung was arrested in Kaohsiung on August 15, and while being transferred to Taipei named Su Chien-ho, Liu Bing-lang, and Chuang Lin-hsun as accomplices. Su and the others claim that the police failed to inform them of their right to a lawyer, and that during more than 20 hours of questioning the police beat them and forced them to sit on ice.

Wang Wen-hsiao was sentenced to death by a military court in January 1992, and his sentence was carried out soon thereafter. Before his execution, however, Wang claimed that he had only named the others as accomplices because he was tortured by police, and that Su and the others had not taken part in the murder. The three were given two death sentences apiece after the third and final review of their case in February 1995, while Wang Wen-chung was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

The entire case hinged on the initial confession