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发帖数: 2300 | 1 Chinese-born wife murdered her spouse with thallium rather than agree to a
divorce
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — A Chinese-born chemist who worked for a decade
for one of America's biggest pharmaceutical companies was a cold,
calculating murderer who poisoned her husband rather than let him divorce
her, a judge said Monday as he sentenced her to life in prison.
Tianle Li won't be eligible for parole for more than 62 years for the
killing of Xiaoye Wang, a computer software engineer, in early 2011, the
judge said.
"This was planned, calculated and committed in a cruel and depraved manner,"
state Superior Court Judge Michael Toto said.
The 43-year-old Li was convicted in July of murder and hindering
apprehension. Her attorney had sought a 30-year sentence.
Li continues to deny any role in her husband's death, said her attorney,
Steven Altman. In a brief, tear-filled statement read in court Monday, Li
said she prays for her husband's soul and will appeal the verdict. The
couple has a son who is 4 and in the care of relatives.
Li worked for New York City-based biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers
Squibb. Prosecutors introduced evidence during the trial that she ordered
thallium, a tasteless, odorless poison, through work in 2010 after
researching its effects on humans.
Thallium has been banned for consumer use in the U.S. since 1972. It can be
fatal in doses as small as a gram and has been called the perfect poison
because it's difficult to detect in lab tests. It was initially suspected to
be the toxin used in the 2006 fatal poisoning in London of former Russian
KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, but it was later determined he had ingested
the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210.
Wang, 39, checked into a hospital in January 2011 suffering from what
appeared to be the flu or some other virus. He lapsed into a coma and died.
Li was at her husband's side in the hospital, even changing his bedpan,
Altman pointed out to the judge.
Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua told the judge Li was "secretly keeping a
journal of all his symptoms, wondering when he was going to die."
"She calculated every aspect of her husband's murder; not only how to do it,
but how to get away with it. She thought she was going to get away with
this murder," Bevacqua said. "She chose to murder her husband rather than
allow him to divorce her."
Li, who is from Beijing, came to the U.S. in the late 1990s and worked for
Bristol-Myers Squibb for about 10 years. She met Wang when they were
studying at the University of Pennsylvania. The couple lived in Monroe, in
central New Jersey, and prosecutors said at the time of Li's arrest in
February 2011 that police had been called to the residence several times for
domestic disturbances.
Altman said in court Monday that some of the disputes arose from culture
clashes between the Americanized Li and her husband's more traditional
family, who had come to help the couple care for their son. |
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