From Xinhua net via sina.com, translated by CDT:
Hou Jianjun, former Liaoning Provincial Congress’s delegate member and chairman of a transportation company in Fushun City, had a verbal fight with a pedestrian while driving early one morning in March last year. Then it escalated into a fistfight. And the incident spiraled out of control with Hou driving his car into the other and killing him.
The court found that Hou was driving under the influence. That night he turned himself in to the local police.
In May last year, the intermediate court of Fushun handed down a death sentence to Hou for intentional killing.
Today, a second verdict was handed down, after an appeal, to Hou that he could have two more years in reprieve before execution. (But in many cases, money can buy a lot of changes during that two years.)
Arguments for a lighter punishment were: Hou turned himself in, showed regretfulness during retrial and proactively earned forgiveness of the victim’s family by paying compensation on time. But the first trial concluded that, with these arguments, Hou killed the victim in a cruel manner and didn’t justify a lighter punishment.
There is probably more for us to stay tuned. [Full Text in Chinese]
