The complicated facts of the case, the cruel criminal means, and the many changes in the confessions made by the two have all attracted much attention to the case.
On September 9, 2021, Lao Rongzhi was at the scene of the trial in the courtroom
△ "Is there a special pattern of crime in this case?"
△ "Fa Ziying has been shot, is Lao Rongzhi's confession dead and unverified?" Will it affect the validity of the evidence? ”
△ "There is a contradiction in the confession or statement between Lao Rongzhi, Fa Ziying and the only survivor, Liu Mou, how should the court accept it?" ”
A reporter from the People's Court News and Media Corporation interviewed Liu Jingkun, professor of the Institute of Comprehensive Rule of Law of China University of Political Science and Law, Wu Yunfeng, professor of the School of Criminal Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, Shi Zhongli, associate professor of criminal psychology at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, and Sun Benxiong, assistant professor of the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology, on the topics that were hotly discussed by the above netizens.
The Lao Rongzhi case is a series of cases, and the criminal model is typical
According to the trial of the Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, it was ascertained that between 1996 and 1999, the two conspired and divided their labor, and Lao Rongzhi engaged in escort services in entertainment venues to find the target of the crime; Fa Ziying committed violence and successively committed 4 robberies, kidnappings, and intentional homicides in four cities, including Nanchang City in Jiangxi Province, Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province, and Hefei City in Anhui Province. A pattern of crime similar to that of this case has appeared in judicial practice.
"This case is a series of cases, so an analysis of the pattern of crime helps to identify the motives, means and laws of conduct of the crime, and to establish the correlation between specific cases." Liu Jingkun believes that the criminal model summarized by the public prosecution organs is helpful in sorting out the facts of the case, judging the nature of the case, and strengthening the proof of the series of cases to a certain extent. However, for the specific cases in which defendant Lao Rongzhi is charged, it is still necessary to prove them based on relevant evidentiary materials.
Lau RongZhi in an entertainment venue
In Wu Yunfeng's view, this type of crime presents the following four typical characteristics: First, the victims are selected through selection, so they are both random and selective. Second, there is a division of labor and cooperation between accomplices, and one person cooperates with other accomplices to commit further crimes by means of deception. Third, criminal acts are seriously harmful, and after kidnapping and robbery, they still kill people and kill their mouths, and the criminal means are cruel, the consequences are serious, and the harm is enormous. Fourth, the mobility of criminal acts has also brought difficulties to the detection of cases to a certain extent.
In this regard, Sun Benxiong reminded: "From the perspective of future victim prevention, everyone must remain calm in the face of temptation to avoid personal and property losses. ”
Even if Fa Ziying had been shot, Lao Rongzhi's confession did not mean that there was no evidence of death
During the first trial, although Lao Rongzhi did not make much defense against the facts of the crime of robbery and kidnapping, she firmly denied that she participated in the murder, saying that collusion did not exist. She has repeatedly stated that she assisted in the crime under the threat of Fa Ziying, and she was also a victim, and even dissuaded Fa Ziying from committing a crime.
Therefore, some netizens asked questions:
Lao Rongzhi is suspected of shifting all the legal responsibility for intentional homicide to Fa Ziying, who has been shot, so is there a situation of "death without proof"?
Fa Ziying was arrested at the scene
"Although Fa Ziying was executed on December 18, 1999, which may have had an impact on the clarification of relevant facts to a certain extent, it does not mean that he is completely helpless or dead." Wu Yunfeng said that in addition to verbal evidence, the evidence on which the case was decided also included other physical evidence, documentary evidence, inquest records and other evidentiary materials collected by the police at the place where the crime was discovered.
Liu Jingkun said that although Fa Ziying, as a co-offender, has been executed, his previous confessions and defenses are still of great value for verifying Lao Rongzhi's confessions and defenses. "It is also an old case, but compared with other cases that have not been solved for a long time, there are some peculiarities in the evidence system of this case -- Fa Ziying has been arrested and arrested before, and has been executed after trial, so the main evidence in this case has been fixed in the evidence materials of Fa Ziying's previous case." The Tribunal must carefully verify both the evidentiary materials of previous cases and the careful analysis of newly collected evidentiary materials.
Lau Rongzhi was featured on the Internet
According to the provisions of China's criminal law, there is a certain difference between accomplices and co-offenders: co-offenders refer to all criminal suspects in the same criminal case; while accomplices refer to criminal suspects who jointly commit criminal acts, not necessarily the same case.
However, whether co-perpetrators or co-offenders, because the defendant has a direct interest in the outcome of the case, the defendant may make false statements in order to evade guilt;
For this reason, with regard to Lao Rongzhi's confession and defense, it is all the more necessary to adhere to article 55 of the Criminal Procedure Law: The sentence of all cases must emphasize evidence, emphasize investigation and research, and not trust the confession. Sun Benxiong believes that Fa Ziying's confession, the testimony of survivors, and the criminal tools seized by the police can all be used to verify Lao Rongzhi's confession and defense; if the court summarizes the evidence in the whole case and excludes reasonable doubts about the facts found, then It can be found guilty and sentenced to criminal punishment.
On December 21, 2020, the first instance trial of the Lao Rongzhi case was held for the first time
Neither can we simply accept the pre-trial confession, nor can we justify the trial defense
According to relevant media reports, in the Hefei case, Lao Rongzhi lured the victim Yin into a rental house, and Fa Ziying in the house put Yin into a steel cage customized on the grounds of "closing the dog", and finally Yin was strangled to death.
In his first confession, Fa Ziying said that before he went out to see Yin's wife the next day, he instructed Lao Rongzhi: "If I don't come back before 12 o'clock, you will kill him and run away." As a result, Fa Ziying was successfully arrested by the police. When the police rushed to the rental house, Yin had really been strangled to death, and Lao Rongzhi fled.
But Fa Ziying later changed this confession, and he said in his second confession: he had strangled Yin to death before he went to see Yin, and was not the person lao Rongzhi killed.
The rental house where the victim, Yin Mou, was killed in an iron cage
In fact, after being arrested, Fa Ziying knew that he could not escape the death sentence, so he always shielded Lao Rongzhi with the mentality of "horizontal one heart". After he learned that Lao Rongzhi had not been caught, he exonerated Lao Rongzhi 7 times and blamed all the crimes on himself.
After kidnapping Yin, Fa Ziying went out twice on the night of July 22, 1999 and the morning of July 23, 1999, to get extortion money, and before leaving, he said to the guards Lao Rongzhi: "If he (Yin) shouts, or I don't come back, you will strangle him." ”
And during the kidnapping of Yin, Fa Ziying lured the little carpenter Lu into the rental house and killed Lu in front of Yin.
In the four cases committed by the two, the only survivor, Liu Mou of the Changzhou case, once revealed that in the whole process of his abduction, Fa Ziying and Lao Rongzhi did not have any communication, and the cooperation was very tacit, which showed that it was not the first time to commit a crime.
However, in the courtroom of the first trial, Lao Rongzhi not only denied the murder of the person, but also "felt sorry for his timidity and cowardice, and did not surrender after 20 years of escape", saying that he was willing to do everything he could to compensate.
At the first hearing of the first instance, Lao Rongzhi defended himself in court
After trial, the court found that Lao Rongzhi played a major role in the joint crime, was the principal offender, and should be punished according to all the crimes in which he participated.
"Lau Has a typical antisocial personality, intelligent and good at planning. Even after witnessing many murder scenes and learning that Fa Ziying was executed, she was still able to evade the pursuit for 20 years through plastic surgery, pseudonyms and other means, which shows the strength of her psychological quality. Shi Zhongli analyzed from the perspective of criminal psychology.
Lao Rongzhi's "Artistic Life" During his Exile
Contradictions between evidence, especially inconsistencies between verbal evidence, should be analyzed in combination with the evidence of the whole case and expertise in the field of psychology, and investigation and verification should be conducted to eliminate reasonable doubts about the facts of the case.
"Because Lao Rongzhi changed some of his previous confessions during the trial, the court could neither simply accept the pre-trial confession nor deny the trial defense." Liu Jingkun explained that according to Article 96 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, if the defendant retracts his confession during trial, but cannot reasonably explain the reason for the retraction or his defense contradicts the evidence in the whole case, and his pretrial confession is corroborated with other evidence, his pretrial confession may be accepted. Where there are repetitions in the defendant's pretrial confessions and defenses, but the confessions are made during trial and corroborated with other evidence, their trial confessions may be accepted; where the defendant's pretrial confessions and defenses are repeated, and the confession is not confessed during trial, and there is no other evidence corroboration with the pretrial confession, the pretrial confession must not be accepted.
Footage of the first instance trial on September 9, 2021
It is worth noting that the court found that The fact that Lao Rongzhi truthfully confessed to his kidnapping in Changzhou after his return to the case was a confession. However, considering that Lao Rongzhi's intentional killing caused the death of five people; robbery caused the death of one person, the amount of robbery was huge, and there were circumstances of robbery in the household; kidnapping caused the death of one person, the circumstances of the crime were particularly heinous, the means were particularly cruel, the subjective viciousness was extremely deep, the personal danger and social harm were extremely great, and the consequences and crimes were extremely serious and should be punished according to law. Although there are confessions, it is not enough to give a lenient punishment.
Therefore, it is believed that Lao Rongzhi has committed several crimes and should be punished together according to law. He was sentenced to several crimes, decided to carry out the death penalty, deprived of political rights for life, and sentenced to confiscation of all personal property.
On September 1, 2020, the first trial of the first instance was held, and Lao Rongzhi identified relevant evidentiary materials
Timeline of the Lawrence Branch case
In 1996
Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying became acquainted and became lovers.
July 1996—July 1999
Fa Ziying and Lao Rongzhi roamed through many parts of the country, including Nanchang City in Jiangxi Province, Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province, and Hefei City in Anhui Province, and used deceptive means to kidnap, rob, and kill seven people for the purpose of extorting property.
July 29, 1996
The Public Security Bureau of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, filed and investigated a robbery and intentional homicide case that occurred at No. 602, No. 1, Bamao 1st Lane, Donghu District, Nanchang City.
August 18, 1996
The Public Security Bureau of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, issued a wanted notice with photos of Fa Ziying and Lao Rongzhi.
October 1997
Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying kidnapped and robbed Liang Mou and Liu Mouqing of Wenzhou, Zhejiang. After obtaining the property, Fa Ziying killed the two and then fled together.
Summer 1998
Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying kidnapped Liu in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Liu is the only survivor in the four cases.
July 22-July 23, 1999
Lao Rongzhi and Fa Ziying kidnap Yin in Hefei, Anhui Province, and Fa Ziying first went out and tricked the carpenter Lu into a rental place and killed him, and then killed Yin.
July 23, 1999
Fa Ziying tried to resist arrest with a gun and was caught by the police on the spot.
November 18, 1999
Fa Ziying was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei City, Anhui Province.
December 28, 1999
Fa Ziying was publicly executed by firing squad.
November 28
In Xiamen, Fujian Province, Lao Rongzhi was arrested and taken into criminal custody by the public security organs.
December 5
The Public Security Bureau of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, sent personnel to escort Lao Rongzhi to Nanchang.
December 12
The People's Procuratorate of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, intervened in the investigation of the case in advance.
December 15
The Public Security Bureau of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, submitted a request for review and arrest of criminal suspect Lao Rongzhi.
December 17
The People's Procuratorate of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, approved the arrest of criminal suspect Lao Rongzhi in accordance with law.
August 31, 2020
The Nanchang Municipal Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, in accordance with law against Lao Rongzhi on suspicion of intentional homicide, kidnapping, and robbery.
September 1, 2020
The Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, accepted in accordance with law the Nanchang Municipal People's Procuratorate's accusation that defendant Lao Rongzhi had intentionally killed, kidnapped, or robbed.
Morning of December 21, 2020
The Nanchang Intermediate People's Court held a public trial of the defendant Lao Rongzhi's case of intentional homicide, kidnapping, robbery, and other crimes.
The morning of September 9, 2021
The Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, publicly pronounced a verdict in the first instance in accordance with law on the defendant Lao Rongzhi's intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping. Defendant Lao Rongzhi was convicted of intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping, and was punished for several crimes at the same time, and it was decided to carry out the death penalty, deprive him of his political rights for life, and confiscate all personal property. After the first-instance judgment was pronounced, defendant Lao Rongzhi appealed in court.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Fang Ying Caption Source: IC photo Image Editor: Cao Liyuan
Source: Author: People's Court Daily He Yuxiao