Iowa City authorities say UI murder suspect Xiagnan Li showed no remorse at trial

IOWA CITY - A Chinese court has six months to decide the fate of a former University of Iowa international student who has admitted to killing his girlfriend in 2014, and Johnson County authorities who witnessed the student's trial said they're optimistic justice will be served.

'We are hopeful for a successful prosecution there,” Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said Monday during a news conference to recap observations from the two Iowa City detectives and assistant county attorney who observed the one-day trial in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou.

The death penalty, however, is an unlikely outcome, according to Iowa City detective David Gonzalez and assistant Johnson County attorney Elizabeth Dupuich. Gonzalez and Dupuich, who went to China for the trial along with Iowa City police detective Andy Rich, said the suspect, Xiangnan Li, did not - in the traditional sense - enter a guilty plea in the criminal case, as some media outlets indicated. Rather, Gonzalez said, Li pleaded guilty in an earlier civil case with the family of his victim, Tong Shao, a 20-year-old international student at Iowa State University.

Li did not contest killing Shao during the criminal trial, which lasted about seven hours. But he did contest plenty of other allegations, Dupuich said, including that the murder was premeditated and that much of the evidence collected by U.S. authorities should be admitted at trial.

A Chinese judge with the Intermediate People's Court sided with prosecutors in admitting the evidence, leaving attorneys to debate the issue of premeditation. Dupuich said Li argued he committed the crime in the heat of passion - although he changed his story several times, she said.

'He also claimed self-defense initially in an interrogation by the Chinese police and indicated that she was attempting to suffocate him with a pillow, and then only later changed his story to admit that he strangled her,” Dupuich said.

Li did not appear to show remorse during the proceedings, according to Dupuich and Gonzalez, who got to watch the trial with the help of a facilitator from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Although the local contingent didn't have a word-for-word interpretation, Dupuich said, Chinese prosecutors appeared to present much of the evidence they collected to support their theory that - days before killing Shao - Li bought a suitcase and hand weights intending to sink her body to the bottom of a river or lake.

Now that the trial is over, Gonzelez said, officers have more freedom to discuss the evidence supporting a timeline that has Li dropping Shao off at a study group on Sept. 6 - the last day she was seen alive - before heading to TJ Max to buy a suitcase and then to Wal-Mart to buy the weights.

Shoa experienced some type of blunt-force trauma to her face, according to the Iowa City authorities, and then - by tracking Li's cellphone - they learned he stopped at two spots along the Skunk River in the early-morning hours of Sept. 7. Authorities believe he had planned to drop Shao's body in the water, but changed his mind when he realized how low the water had receded.

'He decided maybe that the suitcase wouldn't actually sink,” Gonzalez said.

With the body in the trunk of the car he was driving, Li - now back at his apartment in Iowa City on Sept. 8 - called a cab and headed to the airport. Three days earlier, and one day before Shao was last seen alive, Li had bought a one-day ticket to China.

He boarded a flight home Sept. 8, arriving Sept. 9 in Beijing, authorities said. He was on the lam for months before eventually being arrested.

Shoa died of asphyxia, although detectives on Monday said they don't know whether Li died before or after being placed in the suitcase. Dupuich said investigators believe Li was motivated to kill by jealousy.

'I think the motive was quite clear,” Dupuich said. 'The fact that she was pursuing a new boyfriend and not wanting to be with the defendant any longer.”

During the trial, Dupuich said, Li provided alternate explanations for his suitcase and weights purchases - saying he needed the weights for exercise and the suitcase for moving apartments.

'And he offered that he often purchased one-way tickets to China,” Dupuich said.

An attorney for Shao's parents told CNN they accepted 2 million yawn - or about $308,000 - from Li's family before the start of the criminal trial, potentially leading to leniency during sentencing.

Gonzalez said he doesn't believe the civil case can impact the verdict in the criminal case, although he said it could impact the sentence - which he understands could be between 20 years and life in prison, if he's found guilty.

The verdict and sentence are expected to come down at the same time, Gonzelez said.

Members of the Johnson County attorney's Office and Iowa City Police Department expressed gratitude for the Chinese authorities' willingness to investigate the case so thoroughly and dedicate so many resources to it. Johnson County couldn't prosecute the case itself because the United States' lack of an extradition treaty with China made it impossible to bring Li back.

County Attorney Lyness said this level of cooperation is relatively new for U.S.-China relations, and it's 'absolutely” a first for her office.

'Chinese and American relations along these lines are fairly new, and this is the first case that we've heard of from the Department of Justice where they've actually invited the prosecutors to go over,” Lyness said. 'It's a unique experience and we are really glad to know that they are not going to just let people flee back to China to avoid responsibility for actions that occurred in the United States.”

Gonzalez said he did feel some disappointment that Chinese authorities didn't help facilitate a sit-down meeting with Shao's family, allowing him to share law enforcement's deep concern for justice in this case.

'One of the requests that I made once we arrived in China was to actually speak to the family, explain some things to them a little bit easier since it would be a face-to-face conversation,” Gonzalez said. 'However, we never had that chance.”