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at the trial, defendant hao jianyu recalled the incident as follows: the lights at the entrance of the community were dim, guo changjun suddenly appeared with a kitchen knife and chopped directly at his head. after being chopped several times, his friend wang leidi stepped forward to grab the knife; he ran away from the scene injured, and was attacked again on the way, with a brick hitting his face; he grabbed the brick and swung it back at guo changjun's head...

before the incident, hao jianyu and guo changjun had an argument on the phone. hao jianyu, who had been a primary school teacher for many years, probably did not expect that the dispute would eventually lead to a conflict with one death and one injury, and he and his friend were imprisoned, and several families were also involved in the legal whirlpool.

21 days after the incident, guo changjun, who was hit with a brick, died of severe head injury. subsequently, hao jianyu and wang leidi were detained by the police on suspicion of intentional injury; the procuratorate initially believed that hao jianyu was "excessive defense" and decided not to prosecute him. however, the decision was revoked by the higher procuratorate nearly a year later, and the case was transferred for review and prosecution again.

in april this year, the first trial of this intentional injury resulting in death case was concluded: hao jianyu was sentenced to ten years in prison, while wang leidi was sentenced to "three years suspended for four years". in response, the two defendants insisted on their innocence and appealed. last month, the case was heard by the xing'an league intermediate people's court, and the verdict has not yet been announced.

from "excessive self-defense" to "intentional injury", from "no prosecution" to "ten-year sentence", this case is still full of doubts and is mired in controversy.

1

a man fought back with a brick after being hacked, and the hacker died

the murder might have been triggered by a "misunderstanding".

on the evening of august 17, 2020, after having dinner with friends, hao jianyu, who was drunk, asked wang leidi to drive to yilin community. hao jianyu said that he was missing a few textbooks that he had borrowed for wu xuefen's children during the day, so he went to ask in person. wang leidi remembered that after hao jianyu talked to wu xuefen on the phone in the car, he had an argument with a man, "saying that it was guo laohai who called him, and seemed to suspect that he had something going on with his wife."

guo laohai is guo changjun's nickname. he was employed by hao jianyu and had a dispute with him over 2,400 yuan in wages. wu xuefen is guo changjun's ex-girlfriend. according to wu xuefen's recollection, guo changjun went to yilin community to borrow money from her that night. "(at the same time) i received a call from hao jianyu, saying that he helped my daughter borrow textbooks."

the call records show that hao jianyu called guo changjun three times that night, with the last call at 21:23 and lasting nearly 9 minutes. at around 9:30 that night, wang leidi drove to the east gate of yilin community. according to hao jianyu's description, after the car stopped at the east gate, he got out of the car to make a phone call, and was suddenly chased and hacked by guo changjun with a knife.

"after i put the phone away, i felt a dark shadow coming towards me from the left side of my body, and then the left side of my head went numb. i turned around and saw guo changjun, who then chopped me on the left side of my forehead, above my eyebrows, with a kitchen knife..." hao jianyu said that guo changjun chopped him four times in a row, injuring his head and left hand.

the above conflict was captured by the community surveillance, but the video was difficult to discern with the naked eye due to poor lighting at night. the "technical analysis opinion" of the surveillance video only showed that guo changjun and hao jianyu had a physical conflict, and guo changjun rushed towards hao jianyu several times and "wrangled with each other".

figure: surveillance footage from the first crime scene

wang leidi, who was in the car, recalled that after he saw hao jianyu being chopped by guo changjun, he immediately got out of the car to stop the attack. "with the help of the car headlights, i saw blood flowing down hao jianyu's head. the stranger used his right hand to chop hao jianyu's head with a knife, and hao jianyu dodged... i went forward and used my left hand to pry his fingers apart, and used my right hand to pinch what seemed to be the connection between the handle and the blade, and threw the knife into the bushes at the east gate of yilin community."

the surveillance video shows that after guo changjun and hao jianyu had a physical conflict, they ran straight to the left side (north) of the community gate until they were out of the surveillance line of sight. after hao jianyu and wang leidi stayed at the community gate for about 17 seconds, hao jianyu also left to the left side of the gate, while wang leidi left in the opposite direction.

on the sidewalk about 58 meters north of the east gate of yilin community, guo changjun and hao jianyu had another physical conflict.

according to hao jianyu's description, not long after he ran north, guo changjun suddenly appeared and hit him on the left cheekbone with a brick. he immediately snatched the brick from guo changjun and swung it at his head, "hitting guo changjun on the left side of his head with the brick." according to wang leidi's recollection, after he caught up with hao jianyu in his car, he saw guo changjun "swung the brick at hao jianyu," so he stepped forward and kicked guo changjun twice. after being kicked down, hao jianyu hit guo changjun on the head with a brick.

there was no surveillance at the second crime scene, but two witnesses saw hao jianyu hitting guo changjun with a brick.

according to hao jianyu's later identification, the location where he swung the brick to fight back was on the roadside on the east side of building 13 in yilin community. at the time of the incident, wei jianwen, a resident of building 16 in the community, was smoking on the balcony. wei jianwen, 69, recalled to the police that he heard someone shouting "you have slashed me three times, are you going to slash me again?" and then saw two men arguing and pushing each other on the east side of building 13. wei jianwen said that the man who claimed to be slashed (hao jianyu) threw something at the other man (guo changjun), "and it sounded like a stone." he witnessed guo changjun being hit four times, and the second hit was on the head. afterwards, a woman ran from the south, shouting "stop hitting" as she ran, and hao jianyu stopped immediately.

the woman was wu xuefen who rushed to the scene after hearing the news. wu xuefen said that when she arrived at the east gate of the community, "she saw guo changjun lying on the side of the road, a young man was kicking guo changjun, and hao jianyu was hitting guo changjun on the head with a brick. after hitting him once, i stepped forward to stop the fight, and when hao jianyu saw me stopping him, he stopped."

on the night of the incident, hao jianyu and guo changjun were both sent to the hospital for treatment. guo changjun was in a critical condition and was transferred to several hospitals for treatment. he died 21 days after the incident, on september 7, 2020. according to judicial appraisal, the cause of guo changjun's death was "severe craniocerebral injury."

2

the prosecutor's decision not to prosecute was revoked, and the man who was hacked was sentenced to 10 years in prison

guo changjun's death caused the nature of the conflict to escalate sharply.

on september 9, 2020, hao jianyu and wang leidi were detained by the police on suspicion of intentional injury. however, after 37 days of detention, both suspects were released on bail pending trial. for murder suspects, being released on bail during the investigation stage often means that there is a chance for a turnaround in the case.

at that time, this case of intentional injury resulting in death faced controversy within the local judicial authorities: was hao jianyu's behavior intentional injury or self-defense?

the prosecutor's initial characterization was "excessive defense." a "decision on non-prosecution" obtained by the author shows that on march 19, 2021, the arxan city procuratorate decided not to prosecute hao jianyu. the prosecutor said that hao jianyu's counterattack was to "protect his person from the ongoing illegal infringement by guo changjun," but his defensive behavior clearly exceeded the necessary limits.

a week before the decision not to prosecute was made, hao jianyu obtained criminal forgiveness from the victim's immediate relatives. the relevant compensation agreement shows that hao jianyu paid 53,000 yuan in medical expenses in advance and compensated the victim's immediate relatives with 330,000 yuan, and the latter promised not to pursue hao jianyu's legal responsibility.

the procuratorate believes that hao jianyu truthfully confessed his crimes after being arrested, voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, actively compensated the victim's immediate family and obtained forgiveness, and that the victim guo changjun was seriously at fault, "hao jianyu can be exempted from criminal punishment."

but the tragedy did not end there.

nearly a year after the decision not to prosecute was made, on january 14, 2022, the xing'an league procuratorate of inner mongolia revoked the "decision not to prosecute" and transferred the case to the alxa league procuratorate for re-examination and prosecution.

at this time, the arxan city procuratorate overturned the characterization of "excessive self-defense". on january 4 this year, the arxan city procuratorate filed a public prosecution against hao jianyu and wang leidi for intentional injury.

the public prosecutor alleged that hao jianyu and wang leidi drove to the east gate of yilin community and met guo changjun. guo changjun used a kitchen knife to cut hao jianyu's head and hands. wang leijie snatched the kitchen knife from guo changjun's hand and threw it into the grass on the side of the road. guo changjun then left the scene and ran north from the north-south road of the east gate of yilin community. hao jianyu and wang leidi had a brief exchange at the east gate of yilin community and rushed in the direction where guo changjun left. on the east side of building 13 of yilin community, hao jianyu and guo changjun quarreled and fought. after wang leidi drove over, he kicked guo changjun twice, causing him to fall to the ground. hao jianyu hit guo changjun on the head several times with a brick, and wu xuefen rushed to the scene to stop him.

based on this, the public prosecution agency believes that hao jianyu and wang leidi intentionally injured others, the facts of the crime are clear, and the evidence is true and sufficient, and they should be held criminally responsible for intentional injury (resulting in death).

on april 3 this year, three and a half years after the crime, the first trial was concluded. hao jianyu was sentenced to ten years in prison for intentional injury, while wang leidi, as an accomplice in the joint crime, was sentenced to three years in prison and four years of probation.

figure: first instance judgment

from "excessive self-defense" to "intentional injury", from "no prosecution" to "ten-year sentence", i have no way to verify the judicial authorities' considerations behind the scenes. however, by comparing the above two documents of the procuratorate, it can be found that some of the core facts of the accusation are inconsistent.

the revoked "decision on non-prosecution" stated that after wang leidi snatched the kitchen knife from guo changjun, "hao jianyu broke free from guo changjun and ran north along the road east of the east gate of yilin community. guo changjun and wang leidi had a brief exchange at the east gate of yilin community and then continued to chase hao jianyu northward." this fact was inconsistent with the actual situation reflected by the surveillance of yilin community, and the subsequent "indictment" corrected it.

however, in the indictment, the prosecutors did not mention the fact that hao jianyu's left zygomatic bone was fractured. the previous "decision on not to prosecute" stated that "while hao jianyu was running north, guo changjun, who was chasing him, hit him with a colored brick on his left zygomatic bone, causing a fracture of hao jianyu's left zygomatic bone."

3

is it self-defense or intentional injury?

hao jianyu insisted that he was acting in self-defense. both defendants were dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment and filed an appeal.

whether guo changjun's illegal infringement was still ongoing when hao jianyu swung the brick to fight back is the key to determining whether hao jianyu was acting in self-defense.

the first-instance court held that after guo changjun’s knife was taken away, he ran north in order to "escape the scene", and the "unlawful infringement" faced by hao jianyu had ended; while hao jianyu rushed in the same direction as guo changjun, and after guo changjun was kicked down, he still used a brick to hit guo changjun’s vital parts several times, "with the subjective intent of intentional injury."

in response, hao jianyu argued in court that he left the scene to the north to rush to the hospital, not to chase guo changjun. the map shows that there is indeed a hospital a few hundred meters northeast of yilin community.

according to hao jianyu's statement in court, on the way to the hospital, he was attacked by guo changjun with a brick, which hit his left cheekbone, and then he fought back with the brick. according to forensic identification, in addition to scars on the left forehead, left ear, left temporal parietal, and left little finger, hao jianyu's left zygomatic arch was fractured. in this regard, the judicial identification opinion stated that "hao jianyu's left zygomatic arch fracture was a blunt instrument injury, and the brick can be formed."

the defense attorney of the second trial of the case told the author that "hao jianyu's left zygomatic arch fracture" was the key point of the case. the first trial ignored this detail, resulting in a wrong determination of the facts. "guo changjun did not 'escape the scene' as determined by the first trial, but went to find a new weapon and attacked hao jianyu again. guo changjun's illegal infringement on hao jianyu has never ended."

the defense lawyer analyzed that the evidence in the case proved that hao jianyu's left zygomatic arch fracture was not caused by guo changjun's pursuit with a knife, but by guo changjun hitting him with a colored brick. "wei jianwen and wu xuefen were eyewitnesses in this case. they only saw some facts of the case in which hao jianyu fought back against guo changjun. what they did not see was the key detail that guo changjun first attacked hao jianyu with a colored brick outside the camera shooting area. otherwise, hao jianyu's left zygomatic arch fracture injury cannot be explained."

the defense attorney believes that if the evidence in the case can prove that guo changjun's unlawful infringement on hao jianyu is still continuing outside the surveillance area, hao jianyu's counterattack has a basis for legitimate defense and the "special defense" clause applies.

it is reported that the "special defense" clause refers to the provision of article 20, paragraph 3 of my country's criminal law: "if a person takes defensive actions against an ongoing violent crime such as assault, murder, robbery, rape, kidnapping, or other crimes that seriously endanger personal safety, and causes casualties to the unlawful offender, it does not constitute excessive defense and the person shall not bear criminal responsibility."

"it is regrettable that hao jianyu's defensive behavior resulted in the death of guo changjun, but given that guo changjun's previous infringement on hao jianyu was a violent crime that seriously endangered personal safety, the court should still apply special defense regulations without considering whether the defense exceeded the necessary limits," said the defense attorney.

(note: wu xuefen and wei jianwen in this article are pseudonyms)