Court Observation | The Su Case Is Not Over Yet: Professor Chun-I Lee Summoned as Review Expert Witness Regarding Dr. Henry Lee's Crime Scene Reconstruction Report

The case of Chien-Ho Su, Bing-Lang Liu, and Lin-Hsun Chuang is a renowned wrongful death penalty case. In 1991, without finding any direct evidence to prove that the three were involved in the murder of the Wu couple in Hsichih Town, Taipei County, the Taiwan High Court and lower courts sentenced all three to death on February 4, 1995, along with lifelong deprivation of civil rights. On May 18, 2000, the High Court ruled to initiate a retrial, which subsequently went through the Supreme Court remanding the case back to the High Court for retrial three times. On August 31, 2012, during the third retrial after remand, the three were finally acquitted, marking a period of approximately 21 years from being accused of the crime to the final acquittal.

The public mostly assumes this case has come to an end. However, in reality, the incidental civil compensation lawsuit for damages filed by the victims' families in 1992 continued to be heard by the civil court after the conclusion of the criminal case, with both the first and second instances ruling that no liability for damages was required. On August 26, 2020, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment and remanded the case back to the High Court. This means that 30 years after the incident, Chien-Ho Su and the others must still continue to fight for their innocence within the judicial system.

Among the grounds for the Supreme Court's vacating and remanding of the case, it was mentioned that whether "Dr. Henry Lee's crime scene reconstruction report carries higher probative value than the forensic report by the Institute of Forensic Medicine" requires further deliberation. When the court last convened for this case (March 4), it also mentioned that the Institute of Forensic Medicine's report—which served as one of the key foundations for establishing guilt back then—had previously undergone review and appraisal by the Central Police University, and more evidence is needed to overturn it. The probative value of the several forensic reports in this case remains the key focus of the current proceedings.

On April 15, regarding questions surrounding Dr. Henry Lee's past forensic report, the court will summon Professor Chun-I Lee (Professor at the Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine), whom the defense requested to act as a review expert witness, to appear in court. Thirty years have passed; even though Chien-Ho Su and the others were acquitted, their path to full exoneration is not yet complete, and the crucial forensic report proving their innocence is once again being discussed in court. We invite everyone to follow and pay attention to this.

線上報名

Time

Friday, April 15, 2020, 10:00 a.m. Location

Location

First Civil Courtroom, Taiwan High Court
(No. 233, Sec. 1, Guiyang St., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City)

Reference Materials

• Judgment Acquitting Su in Retrial: Taiwan High Court Criminal Judgment, 100 Zhu-Zai-Geng (3)-1
• Supreme Court Civil Judgment Remanding the Su Case: Supreme Court Civil Judgment, 108 Tai-Shang-1437
• Video Explaining Dr. Henry Lee’s Forensic Expert Report and Presentation Regarding the Acquittal in the Third Retrial of the Su Case
• The Three Defendants in the Su Chien-ho Case Were Forced to Confess; a Classmates’ Gathering Turned Them into Death-Row Inmates; Dr. Henry Lee’s Forensic Examination Cleared Their Names (Attorney Ying-Chen Lai)