After a lapse of 28 years, the "Nanjing Medical University girl murder case" was solved, the Supreme People's Procurator approved the prosecution, and the real culprit was sent to court
Prosecution, for belated justice
Guo Lulu
Members of the case handling team of the Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate inspected the situation on the spot
Picture ①: The case handling team of Nanjing City Procuratorate interrogated the suspect Ma Jigang according to law.
Picture ②: The Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate intervened in the case in advance and held joint meetings with the public security organs to guide investigation and evidence collection.
Picture ③: Nanjing City Procuratorate sent officers to appear in court to support the prosecution.
Picture④: On the day of the trial, the defendant Ma Jigang appeared in the court in protective clothing.
The two sets of highly consistent DNA data brought a turning point in the detection of the "Nanjing Medical University (formerly Nanjing Medical College) female student murder case". On February 23, 2020, Nanjing police arrested the suspect Ma Jigang and brought him to justice. The old murder case that affected people's hearts was solved.
Is the collection and storage of DNA samples standardized?
Did the evidence collection of the year meet the standards?
How do the old and new laws apply?
Can the prosecution continue after the 20-year prosecution period?
... After Ma Jigang was arrested, whether he could be investigated for criminal responsibility smoothly triggered a discussion of public opinion.
In October 2020, the Nanjing Intermediate Court of Jiangsu Province publicly pronounced the first instance and adopted the facts, charges and sentencing recommendations charged by the procuratorial organ and sentenced Ma Jigang to death and deprived of political rights for life.
Ma Jigang appealed against the first-instance judgment. On January 19, the Jiangsu Higher Court upheld the original judgment.
Solve the case
DNA targets suspects
On March 24, 1992, the body of the missing female student Lin was found in a manhole near the teaching building of the former Nanjing Medical College. Her bag, books and other personal belongings were found in another manhole. The school’s security office immediately reported the case to the police. After inspection, Lin was hit on the head with a blunt weapon and was raped and then plunged into the manhole to die. This is the "Surface of the Female Student of Nanjing Medical University" that caused a social sensation.
"That Friday (referring to March 20, 1992) around 6:30 p.m., she left the dormitory to read in the classroom, with her schoolbag and umbrella. She was in classroom 268 first, and then because of the wind in this classroom, she changed to classroom 111 Continue reading, a classmate who came back early said that when she left the classroom, she saw that she was still in classroom 111, but she never came back." As Lin’s roommate back then, Xu recalled in an interview with the media.
A few days before Lin’s body was found, school guards Zhang and Ji were patrolling the school building in the middle of the night. They found suspicious men in the bathroom—"square face, darker skin, how many cheeks on the left Acne, about 1.7 meters tall, and twenty-seven years old, standing by the pool and wiping his face with a handkerchief." Zhang approached and asked about the situation. The man ran away, then turned over the wall and escaped.
This case is one of the few vicious and serious cases in Nanjing, and one of the influential murder cases of national concern.
After the incident, the Nanjing Public Security Bureau sent hundreds of police officers to form a task force to conduct large-scale investigations and investigations for several months. Thousands of clues were verified, and more than 15,000 investigators visited, but they were limited by the conditions at the time. Limited, the case did not achieve a breakthrough.
The chase is endless, endlessly broken.
When the Nanjing Public Security Bureau notified the investigation of the case, it mentioned that the Ministry of Public Security paid great attention to the case. The previous Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department and Nanjing Public Security Bureau attached great importance to the investigation of the case. Liu Yang, Deputy Governor of Jiangsu Province and Director of the Provincial Public Security Department It also clearly requested that the case be listed for supervision.
In June 2018, the Nanjing Municipal Public Security Bureau established a "March 24" Homicide Case Investigation Leading Group to invest in a new round of case investigation.
In February 2020, this case made a major breakthrough.
The Forensic Medicine Center of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau contacted the DNA laboratory of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Peixian Public Security Bureau and stated that the suspect’s DNA data extracted from the deceased in the major rape and homicide case in Nanjing on March 24, 1992 and the data of Ma Mouxia, the interrogated person in Pei County Highly consistent, the suspect is basically determined to be a close relative of Ma Xia.
"Through the in-depth application of the latest criminal technology, we have made it clear that members of the Yima family in Peixian County are suspected of committing major crimes." Subsequently, the Nanjing Public Security Bureau's civilian policemen were divided into two groups, rushing to Xuzhou for further inspections on the one hand, and organizing investigations against Ma on the other. Family members visited and investigated in Nanjing.
In the early morning of February 23, 2020, the public security agency discovered that the DNA data of Ma Jigang living in Xuanwu District of Nanjing City was completely consistent with the data of the suspect, and he was suspected of committing a major crime.
At 6 o'clock in the morning that day, Ma Jigang was arrested by the police at home.
Approved
Follow the murder case 28 years ago
Two hours after Ma Jigang was arrested, the Nanjing Procuratorate set up a case-handling team to intervene in advance of the investigation.
"Time is tight and there are a lot of materials." Looking back on the situation during the arrest phase, the case co-organizer and Nanjing City Procurator's prosecutor Yang Yunfei mentioned a detail. A large number of case materials are handwritten, and some of them are illegible due to the age. Members of the case handling team Working overtime on weekends, extracting evidence materials one by one, carefully reviewing them one by one, forming hundreds of thousands of words of transcripts and review opinions in a short period of time. Based on the evidence review, more than 20 articles were submitted to the public security agency in writing. Suggestions for investigation and evidence collection.
It has been 28 years since the incident occurred. Can the prosecution of this old murder case continue?
According to the Criminal Law, if the legal maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death sentence, no prosecution will be taken after 20 years.
If it is deemed necessary to prosecute after 20 years, it must be reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval.
After special research and discussion by the Procuratorate, the Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate believed that the 20-year prosecution period has passed from the time the case was reported to the arrest of the criminal suspect. There is no statutory prosecution time limit extension or interruption, and the prosecution is necessary, so it reported to Jiangsu Province The procuratorate reported to the highest prosecutor to approve the prosecution.
In March 2020, the Jiangsu Provincial Procuratorate proceeded to handle this case which was reported and approved by the Nanjing City Procuratorate for prosecution.
"There is evidence that Ma Jigang has committed a criminal act, and it is not a case where the prosecution period is not limited. It is necessary to prosecute Ma Jigang's criminal act." Soon, the Jiangsu Provincial Procuratorate asked Ma Jigang to deliberately The homicide and rape cases were reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval. Huang Weiping, deputy director of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate's Second Prosecutor's Office and first-level senior prosecutor, undertook the case.
The reporter noticed that with regard to the extension of the prosecution period, there are differences between the 1997 Criminal Law and the 1979 Criminal Law.
Among them, the 1979 Criminal Law stipulates that after filing a case and taking compulsory measures, evading investigation or trial is not subject to the limitation of prosecution.
The 1997 Criminal Law mentions that those who evade investigation or trial after filing for investigation or the court accepts the case are not subject to the time limit for prosecution.
Huang Weiping introduced that for this homicide case that occurred in 1992, it is disputed whether the criminal law of 1979 or the criminal law of 1997 should be applied, mainly because of the time span.
According to the law, the law of the time shall be applied to the investigation of crimes. The case does not belong to the situation of “filing a case and taking compulsory measures” as stipulated in the Criminal Law of 1979, and the law does not specifically explain what constitutes “evasion of investigation”, so consider When Ma Jigang did not change his name and changed his surname to hide, although he had lied during police visits and investigations, he did not think that it constituted "evasion of investigation", so the case should be subject to the limitation of prosecution.
"Through a complete review of the case materials, we found that there is not much discrepancy between the facts and evidence, and Ma Jigang's confession is basically consistent with the situation of the public security on-site investigation that year, and other reasonable doubts can be ruled out." Huang Weiping explained that there was something in the case. The evidence proves that the crime was committed by Ma Jigang, and the nature, circumstances and consequences of the suspected crime are particularly serious. Although the prosecution period has passed 20 years, the social harm and influence still exist. Failure to prosecute will seriously affect social stability or produce Other serious consequences.
On May 8, 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate made a decision to approve the prosecution.
The approved prosecution decision mentioned that Ma Jigang is suspected of intentional homicide and rape. The legal maximum sentence is the death penalty. Although 20 years have passed, the nature, circumstances, and consequences of the crime are particularly serious and must be prosecuted according to law.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate approves the prosecution, both to approve "things" (prosecution of criminal facts) and "persons"-specific and clear criminal suspects.
Qu Xinjiu, a professor at the School of Criminal Justice of China University of Political Science and Law, wrote that the legal significance of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s approval of prosecution is to approve the initiation of a public prosecution, thereby initiating the trial procedure to pursue criminal responsibility, rather than approving the investigation agency to file a case to initiate investigation activities.
For cases submitted to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for approval, the standard of evidence should meet the requirements for prosecution, that is, the facts are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient.
Trial
Sources of inspection materials and storage issues become the focus of prosecution and defense
On the grounds of suspected intentional homicide and rape, the Nanjing Procuratorate prosecuted Ma Jigang.
On September 16, 2020, the case was heard in the Nanjing Intermediate Court in a closed court.
Combined with physical evidence, witness testimony, expert opinion, criminal suspect's confession, etc., the procuratorial organ restored the situation on the night of the case.
At about 22:00 on March 20, 1992, Ma Jigang found female student Lin on the campus of the former Nanjing Medical College alone studying in the room 111 of the South Building, and forced her to have sex at the courtyard of the teaching building with an iron rod. During this period, due to resistance, he hit Lin on the head with an iron rod many times.
Fearing that the crime would be revealed, Ma Jigang dragged Lin to the outside of the teaching building, put it in a manhole and then covered the manhole cover, and then put Lin's books and other personal belongings into another manhole next to him.
After committing the crime, Ma Jigang fled the scene when he was interrogated by school guards for suspicious behavior.
It was identified that Lin was hit on the head with a blunt instrument, causing head injury and drowning, causing mechanical suffocation and death.
The procuratorate believes that Ma Jigang raped women with violence and coercion; he deliberately and illegally deprived others of his life and caused one death. His behavior violated the Criminal Law of 1979. The facts of the crime are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient. He should be investigated for the crime of intentional homicide and rape. Its criminal responsibility.
During the trial, the prosecution and the defense debated key issues such as the qualifications of the appraiser, the exclusion of illegal evidence, the facts of the case, and the nature of the case.
"DNA identification is the key to solving the case, and it is also the key evidence for determining criminal facts. The source and storage of the materials are one of the focal points of the court trial." Yang Yunfei said that as early as the arrest review stage, the case handling team went with the forensic doctor of the technical department of the hospital. The Forensic Medicine Center of Nanjing Public Security Bureau verifies the extraction, registration, and custody of physical evidence, and checks the original maps of previous DNA identifications to confirm the identity and uncontaminated DNA samples.
Not only that, the case-handling team also found three forensic doctors who participated in the autopsy work of the case that year to verify the extraction and storage of the physical evidence that year and the relevant conditions of the forensic appraisal.
"Although some of them have retired, they are all impressed with this case. Some details are still relatively clear, such as how the evidence was extracted, how to register and keep it after extraction, and the autopsy situation, etc." Yang Yunfei said.
According to Liu Xin, director of the Medical Law and Ethics Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, DNA is a very important core evidence in the detection of old murder cases, and this is also an inevitable trend of development.
The reason why material disputes are prone to occur in such cases is not because the evidence is "innate." The key is to see whether the material is collected, transmitted and stored in a standardized manner. There must be no omissions in the process. The entire chain must be complete and formed. closed loop.
"Repeated comparisons of evidence, repeated studies of autopsy reports, repeated qualitative discussions." Fan Qun, the chief undertaker of the case, the then party secretary and chief prosecutor of the Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate, used three "repetitions" to summarize the entire case handling process.
He said that this case is an old homicide, involving the application of old and new laws and the standards of evidence collection. The case handling team has consulted a lot of legal materials.
Especially in response to Ma Jigang's defense that he did not intend to kill someone, the case handling team did a lot of work, and finally determined that he was suspected of intentional homicide based on relevant evidence.
The reporter noticed that the mother of the victim Lin also filed a criminal and civil lawsuit.
Yang Yunfei still remembers the situation when he first saw the old man. Considering the old man’s travel inconvenience in nearly eighty years, the case-handling team went from Nanjing to Wuxi to specifically inform him of his litigation rights and explain the law on relevant legal issues.
"The defendant Ma Jigang deliberately and illegally deprived others of their lives, causing one person to die; he raped a woman with violence and coercion, and his act has violated the provisions of the Criminal Law of 1979 and constituted the crime of intentional homicide and rape." Nanjing Intermediate Court made a first-instance judgment Defendant Ma Jigang was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and deprived of political rights for life; for rape, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and decided to execute the death penalty and deprived of political rights for life.
The attached civil lawsuit filed by the plaintiff Lin’s mother, the court supported it.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the first instance, Ma Jigang appealed.
The Jiangsu Provincial High Court held that Ma Jigang used violence and coercion to rape a woman, deliberately and illegally deprive another person of life, resulting in the death of one person, and his actions constituted the crime of rape and intentional homicide.
In view of the extremely despicable motives of Ma Jigang's crime, the consequences of the crime were extremely serious, which caused extremely bad social effects, and should be severely punished in accordance with the law.
Accordingly, the Jiangsu Higher Court issued a second-instance judgment, ruled to reject the appeal, uphold the original judgment, and submit it to the Supreme People's Court for approval.
Today, the incidental teaching building has become a hospital, but the general building structure has not changed. It can be vaguely distinguished from the pattern 28 years ago. The girl who "disappeared" in the night has never returned.
(Title design: Zhao Yinuo)