Johnson County Attorney: Turning over Shao case to Chinese was difficult, but necessary

IOWA CITY - Earlier this month, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness and law enforcement had to turn over the evidence they had gathered in the murder of Iowa State Student Tong Shao to a collection of Chinese detectives and prosecutors and hope for the best.

To say it was difficult - knowing that handing over the evidence would potentially create a chain of custody issues that would make trying the suspect, 23-year-old Xiangnan Li, in the United States impossible - would be an understatement.

'Very much so,” Lyness said Tuesday. 'When somebody in our community is murdered, I feel very strongly that I want to be the one who stands up for that victim ...

Not having (the trial) here is hard, and I would prefer we would be prosecuting him here.

'It became clear in talking to all of the authorities from the U.S. government, that was not going to be a possibility. This is the next best thing.”

The Iowa City Police Department announced Monday that Li, a former University of Iowa business student, would face an 'intentional homicide” charge in his native China.

Police said Li, who fled to China before Shao's body was found in the trunk of her car in an Iowa City apartment complex on Sept. 26, 2014, turned himself in to law enforcement in Wenzhou, China on May 13.

On May 31, a group of seven Chinese detectives and prosecutors arrived in the United States, Iowa City police said. In the following days, they - along with a representative from the Chinese consulate in Chicago - met with Lyness and law enforcement to go over details of the case.

Authorities believe Shao was killed by Li - her former boyfriend - on Sept. 7, 2014. The pair had checked into a hotel in Nevada, Iowa, on Sept. 5, and Shao was last seen alive at the hotel on Sept. 6.

Police said Li made arrangements to fly back to China on Sept. 6, and his flight left Sept. 8. Local authorities didn't have the opportunity to interview Li, who was charged in China on June 19.

'I don't think we know exactly where (Shao) was killed, other than she was killed in the state of Iowa,” Lyness said.

Lyness noted, however, that it's her belief that Li killed Shao over some sort of dispute in their relationship. One of Li's friends, Karen Yang, told police that Li had called Shao days before her death and Shao answered without realizing she had done so.

Li overheard Shao talking to another man, Yang said. During their conversation, Shao allegedly complained to the other man about Li and 'said things about him that were not nice,” according to court documents.

'In some ways, it's kind of a classic domestic abuse murder in that they had a relationship, and as soon as she wants to get out, that's when she's in the most danger,” Lyness said.

Iowa City Police Sgt. Zach Diersen said investigators were confident within a couple of days of finding Shao's body in Iowa City that Li was their suspect. The fact that he had fled to China and did not appear to be a public safety threat granted police the time to build their case, Diersen added.

'I think we were aware ...

that it was likely he would not be extradited,” Diersen said. 'That's when we learned that, typically, the Chinese would send their investigators over here, gather evidence and that likely that prosecution would happen in China.”

Lyness said she, Iowa City police Chief Sam Hargadine, Iowa City investigators and other attorneys from her office met with the Chinese delegation on June 1. Over the next few days, they pored over evidence, visited the hotel in Nevada and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab, and on June 4 exchanged evidence.

Lyness described handing over the case as 'very uncomfortable (and) very concerning.”

'I said to them, ‘Once we give you this evidence, this could prevent us from prosecuting him. We're trusting you will actually pursue this,'” she said. 'I was persuaded by them ...

I did believe the prosecutors were sincere about pursuing it.”

Lyness said the fact that Shao was a Chinese citizen 'absolutely” played a role in the Chinese government's involvement.

'I'm not sure they would have prosecuted him if it was not a Chinese citizen that was the victim,” she said. 'I don't know that, but I do think that played a significant role to pursue that decision” to prosecute.

While local officials worked with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office in communicating with the Chinese government, Lyness said elected officials specifically were left out of the discussions to ensure the case was a 'law-enforcement endeavor and not a political action.”

Lyness said she doesn't know much about the Chinese legal system, but said it differs from the United States'. Juries are called and can ask questions and provide input, but do not decide cases, she said.

Cases are decided by judges and multiple judges are called to handle different aspects of the case, Lyness said.

Lyness said she has a standing offer from the prosecution to attend Li's trial, but she doesn't know if time and finances will allow for it. Diersen said the police department could send one or two investigators to the trial.

'I think we're satisfied they're going to prosecute him,” he said. 'Obviously we're confident that they now have the evidence to convict him of the crime, just like we would have if he were tried here.

'Part of their coming here was to gather case information ...

to evaluate how good of a case we have and whether or not it's prosecutable. I'm confident like they felt they had a winnable case.”

Authorities said the penalty for intentional homicide ranges from 10 years in prison to the death penalty.