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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder and Rape |
Sentence: |
Life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
14.9 |
Year Crime: |
2005 |
Year Convicted: |
2005 |
Year Cleared: |
2020 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
China |
County or Region of Crime: |
Shandong |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Zhang Zhichao and Wang Guangchao were codefendants wrongly convicted in 2006 of charges in the rape and murder of a high school girl in east China's Shandong Province in 2005. The girl with the surname Gao, was reported missing on January 10, 2005, and her body was found in a locked toilet stall in the boys' bathroom at her school -- the No 2 High School in Linshu County on February 11, 2005. Her autopsy showed she had been strangled to death. Zhichao and Gao were classmates at the school. Within days after the discovery of Gao's body, Zhichao was arrested based on the allegation of two other students. Under police questioning the 16-year-old Zhichao confessed, and implicated fellow classmate Guangchao in covering up the crime. Allegedly, as Zhichao was leaving the scene he met Guangchao and asked him to guard the toilet while he went to a grocery shop near the school to buy a lock to bolt the toilet door. There was no physical evidence linking Zhichao or Guangchao to Gao's rape and murder -- Zhichao and Guangchao did not match the sperm and hair recovered from the toilet stall. The police investigation determined Gao was raped and killed at 6:20 am. However, students reported that on the day of Gao's disappearance Zhichao had taken part in a flag-raising ceremony at 6:15 am and been in class with them at 6:30. Also, the shop's owner said he did not open his store until 7:20 am. Based solely on Zhichao's confession, he was convicted of rape and murder, and Guangchao was convicted of being an accessory by helping cover up the crime. Zhichao was sentenced to life in prison, and Guangchao was given a three-year suspended sentence. Zhichao's family filed an appeal based on his insistence that he falsely confessed to stop being tortured by his police interrogators. The Linyi Intermidiate Court denied Zhichao's appeal. His appeal to the High People's Court of Shandong was also denied. Two petitions to China's Supreme People's Court in Beijing -- the first in 2016 and the second in early 2017 -- were denied. A third petition was granted, and in November 2017 the Supreme Court ordered the Shandong High People's Court to review the case. The Supreme Court ruled his conviction was based on contradictory evidence and questionable facts. The hearing in the high court was postponed six times before taking place on December 5, 2019. On January 13, 2020 the Shandong High People's Court ordered the acquittal of Zhichao and Guangchao based on the prosecution's evidence was insufficient to prove their guilt. The Court found the legality of Zhichao's confession was not only doubtful, but it was contradicted by credible witness testimony. Another inconsistency is that if the girl had been locked in the toilet stall after being killed there, the odor from her decomposing body would have resulted in her being found much sooner than a month after her disappearance. Zhichao was released in the courtroom from his almost 15 years in custody immediately after the verdict. The chief judge informed Zhichao and Guangchao they can apply to the original court that found them guilty for state compensation." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"On January 13, 2020 the Shandong High People's Court ordered the acquittal of Zhichao and Guangchao based on a finding that the prosecution's contradictory evidence was insufficient to prove their guilt." |
Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
16 |
Age When Released: |
31 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Chinese |
Information Source 1: |
"Chinese man cleared of schoolgirl's rape and murder after serving 13 years of life sentence, By Alice Yan, South China Morning Post, January 14, 2020" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3045966/chinese-man-cleared-schoolgirls-rape-and-murder-after-serving-13 |
Information Source 2: |
"Man Convicted of Rape, Murder Acquitted, Wire Report, Namibia Daily News, January 13, 2020" |
Information Location 2: |
https://namibiadailynews.info/man-convicted-of-rape-murder-acquitted/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org