On the morning of April 22, the Dezhou City Intermediate People's Court publicly pronounced a verdict in accordance with the law on the second-instance trial of the appellant Su Jie and others who organized, led, and participated in organized crime of a triad nature, ruling to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
Case Review: The first triad-related case in Texas since the anti-gang crime eradication
Since May 2008, the appellant Su Jie and others have used violence, threats, intimidation, smashing and other illegal means to forcibly monopolize the operation of bus lines from Leling City to Dasun Township, and have committed 27 crimes and 2 illegal acts such as picking quarrels and provoking trouble, intentional injury, forced trading, illegal detention, rape, and extortion. Through the illegal and criminal means to carry out a number of business activities to obtain economic benefits, used to support illegal and criminal activities, the formation of Su Jie as the organizer, leader, a large number of people, relatively fixed members, internal hierarchy, relatively strict organizational structure of the mafia nature of the organization, seriously affecting the economic and social life order of Leling City.
On September 12, 2019, the Qingyun County People's Procuratorate filed Su Jie indicted Su Jie to the Qingyun County People's Court on seven counts of organizing and leading a mafia-type organization, intentional injury, and rape. This case became the first case of organized crime of a triad nature that the Texas procuratorial organs examined and prosecuted since the special struggle against organized crime and evil forces.
On December 25, 2019, after trial, the court adopted the procuratorate's public prosecution opinion and sentenced Su Jie to 25 years' imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for two years, confiscation of all personal property, and no parole in accordance with the law. Su Jie appealed against the verdict.
Scrutiny: The grounds of appeal cannot be established
After the case entered the second-instance trial procedure, the Dezhou Municipal People's Procuratorate formed a case-handling team, adhered to the principle of objectivity, impartiality, and comprehensive review, carefully reviewed all the case file materials, conducted a comprehensive review of the facts and applicable law of the first-instance judgment, and the procedures for trial, interrogated the appellant Su Jie through remote video, and fully heard the appellant's defense and appeal grounds. The case-handling team discussed with the first-instance prosecutor to understand the focal issues of the dispute during the first-instance trial, communicated with the court to exchange opinions on the facts and procedural aspects of the case, analyzed one by one whether the appellant's appeal grounds were reasonable and in accordance with the law, and focused on in-depth arguments on the appellant's defense. In response to Su Jie's proposal to report and expose clues about others' violations and crimes, in order to safeguard his legitimate rights and interests, the case-handling team contacted the relevant case-handling departments to verify and ensure that the facts of the case were clear and the evidence was indeed sufficient. Upon review, it was found that the first-instance judgment was correct in determining the facts and applying the law, the conviction was accurate, and the sentence was appropriate, and the appellant's grounds for appeal could not be established.
Lightning News reporter Feng Shangshang reported