Disabled man persuaded neighbor to lightly close the door and was beaten and killed 2 people were judged to be excessive defense What are the necessary limits of legitimate defense?

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CCTV News: Recently, the China Judgment Documents Network published a criminal verdict in a case of excessive defense. Defendant Ren Zhiqiang was insulted for reminding the upstairs neighbors to close the door softly, the neighbors' family of three went downstairs to smash the door and scolded, Ren Zhiqiang picked up the fruit knife from the table and opened the door, in the conflict between the two sides, Ren Zhiqiang was beaten to one knee, after feeling the chest was stabbed, he took out the fruit knife to kill the neighbors 2 people, and was finally judged to be overdefended.

Reminding the upstairs neighbor to tap and close the door was beaten after killing 2 people and was judged to be overdefended

One day in April 2019, Ren Zhiqiang reminded his upstairs neighbor Li to close the door, which was disgusted and insulted by the other party. He chased to his doorstep theory, Li called his parents, saying that he was bullied, the other party with a hammer chased and smashed the door of the house. After the two sides tore the dispute and were pulled apart by others, the police took the parties to the police station for mediation.

After the mediation, the Li family continued to deliberately make noises upstairs, and Ren Zhiqiang was unbearable, so he opened the door to persuade and the two sides began to quarrel again. Li and his parents went downstairs to smash the door and scolded Ren Zhiqiang. Ren Zhiqiang picked up the fruit knife from the table and then opened the door, in the conflict, Li used the paper cutting knife he carried with him to stab Ren Zhiqiang's chest, his parents fought with Ren Zhiqiang together, after Ren Zhiqiang knelt on one knee, Ren Zhiqiang got up and stabbed the three people continuously, Li died on the spot after falling to the ground, and his mother fell to the ground and died in the process of running to the corridor. Ren Zhiqiang voluntarily surrendered himself after the incident.

The disability certificate confirmed that Ren Zhiqiang was assessed as a fourth-degree limb disability in May 2015, a sequelae of cerebral infarction, and a paresis of the right limb. At the time of the incident, his wife and daughter were also at home.

After trial, the court held that the defendant Ren Zhiqiang stabbed the victim with a knife was to stop the ongoing unlawful infringement, and his conduct was of a defensive nature; the serious consequences of his defensive behavior causing the death of two people and the slight injury of one person obviously exceeded the necessary limit and caused major damage, constituting the crime of intentional injury, and should bear criminal responsibility according to law. Defendant Ren Zhiqiang's conduct was excessive defense, and he voluntarily surrendered after the crime occurred, truthfully confessed the main facts of the crime, and surrendered voluntarily, and may be mitigated in accordance with law.

In the end, the court found the defendant Ren Zhiqiang guilty of intentional injury and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment and 86,015.72 yuan in compensation for the economic losses of the victim's family.

Why was he judged to be overly defensive? Criminal law experts explain doubts

After trial, the court held that the unlawful infringement faced by Ren Zhiqiang was not urgent and serious, and that he stabbed three victims in succession with a fruit knife, resulting in the death of two people and minor injuries to one person, and should find that Ren Zhiqiang's behavior clearly exceeded the necessary limit and caused major damage, which was excessive defense.

Which detail in Ren Zhiqiang's behavior determines that he is considered to be overly defensive? Yin Bo, an associate professor at the Law School of Beijing Normal University, said in an interview with A CCTV reporter that the tool held by the victim's family was a paper knife, and it could not cause death by stabbing the chest, in fact, Ren Zhiqiang was also identified as a minor injury afterwards. Ren Zhiqiang had prepared a fruit knife before opening the door, and used the fruit knife to stab the victim continuously, causing Li and his mother to rupture and die of heart. "Judging from the trade-offs between the two sides, it is obvious that Ren Zhiqiang has done a little better."

In addition, Ren Zhiqiang was beaten to one knee in the conflict, and Inbo said: "In fact, the other party is to make him submit, the purpose is obvious, as an ordinary person, he can also judge that the neighbor's family is detrimental to his personal dignity, not to kill him." From the perspective of resolving neighborhood disputes, you know that the other party will not kill you, but you must solve the other party in turn, which is also a big problem. ”

Inber said: "We must not only see the law itself, but also organize the details of the whole fact according to each link of the law, and make a comprehensive judgment in the context, rather than completely abstract dogmatically explaining a specific legitimate defense problem." ”

It is worth noting that the "Guiding Opinions on the Lawful Application of the Legitimate Defense System" issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security emphasizes that it is necessary to earnestly prevent the erroneous practices of "who can make trouble and who is justified" and "who kills and injures who is justified" and resolutely defend the spirit of the rule of law that "the law cannot give in to lawlessness." It is necessary to fully consider the state of urgency and nervousness of the defender when facing unlawful infringement, and prevent the defender from being judged by the standard of calm, rational, objective and accurate under normal circumstances afterwards. It is necessary to pay attention to ascertaining the causes and consequences, distinguish between right and wrong, ensure that cases are handled on a legal basis, should be reasonable, and are compatible with circumstances, conform to the people's concept of fairness and justice, and realize the organic unity of legal effects and social effects. In recent years, the legitimate defense clause in the criminal law has been gradually activated, safeguarding the fairness and justice of society.

Focusing on the popular discussion of the question of legitimate defense and excessive defense, Indo-Bo gave a detailed answer, and the following is the transcript of the interview:

How to define legitimate defense and excessive defense?

Indo-Wave: It is more appropriate to draw a more appropriate line between legitimate defense and excessive defense, because if it is too much, it may encourage the wrongful infringement in the name of legitimate defense. In legitimate defense, we must not only make qualitative determinations, but also quantitative determinations.

The first link, is there a premise of defense - has there been any murder? Is there an unlawful infringement in the criminal law sense? The means of causing the damage, the tools used, the parts of the blow, etc., are all used to judge the intensity of the unlawful infringement.

The precedence is about weight, and there are priorities. A normal actor judges how he should be handled or placed in a specific context. In particularly urgent cases, there is no doubt that the intensity of the defense is certainly greater. In addition, are the rights and interests of unlawful infringement worth protecting? For example, the infringement of the right to life of the parties, the most basic threat to personal safety, should be said to hurt the most fundamental rights and interests.

The second link is the limit of defense, has it exceeded the reasonable limit? Is your defensive behavior within the comprehension of ordinary people? Of course, this is judged by the common sense of the public. We cannot substitute individual judgments for the judgments of the public as a whole.

How can we save ourselves when threatened? What are the necessary limits of legitimate defence?

In fact, there are still many ways for us to provide relief, we have grass-roots social organizations, people's mediation institutions, community policing, neighborhood committees, properties, many departments can actually solve problems through comprehensive management, there is no need to jump to the scope of self-reliance relief.

Of course, self-reliance is also possible, and it is not possible to use illegal, improper or even violent means. For example, when you are threatened, do some related self-help, take a stool to wave, use blunt objects to defend, this situation often does not constitute excessive defense, even if you hold a knife, do not stab at very critical parts.

From some superficial behavioral signs, we can judge the subjective motives of the other party, judge whether it is possible to cause danger to life in the end, and whether there is a strength beyond the necessary range. It should be said that legitimate defence must be proportionate, comparable, and proportional in the sense of public law. In layman's terms, whether you use anti-aircraft guns to hit mosquitoes, I think a normal judgment is to make the other party not continue to infringe.

Is legitimate defence civilly liable?

Inbo: If it is judged to be legitimate defense, there is no need to bear civil liability. Because what you are doing is a legal thing, it does not have the illegality itself, and you do not have the basis for bearing civil liability. However, if it is excessive defense, it is necessary to bear civil liability.