LA man sentenced in killings of estranged wife's teen nephews

PASADENA, Calif. - A Los Angeles man convicted of the bludgeoning deaths of his then-estranged wife's two teenage nephews in the boys' Arcadia home was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

Deyun Shi, 52, was sentenced for the Jan. 22, 2016, slayings of 15-year-old Anthony Lin, who was asleep when he was attacked with bolt cutters, and his 16-year-old brother, William, who was killed while studying in a separate room.

As he imposed the sentence, Superior Court Judge Jared Moses called the killings "acts of stunning savagery and brutality."

Shi was convicted March 13 of two counts of first-degree murder, with jurors finding true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and allegations that he personally used a deadly weapon – bolt cutters.

The jury also convicted Shi of one count of corporal injury for an attack on his then-wife in La Cañada Flintridge with a wood-splitting tool the night before the killings.

One day after the jury's verdict, Moses found that Shi was sane at the time of the crimes.

The judge made the ruling at the prosecution's request during the sanity phase of Shi's trial after the testimony of a psychologist called on behalf of the defendant.

One of Shi's attorneys, Vicki Podberesky, said the defense objected to the prosecution's request, asking that the jury be allowed to decide whether her client was sane or insane at the time of the crimes.

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"I truly believe that our client suffers from severe mental illness," she said after the judge's decision.

Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri told jurors during the guilt phase of the trial that Shi planned the teens' bludgeoning deaths in an "act of revenge" against the family of his estranged wife, who had filed for divorce.

Podberesky countered that her client was suffering from delusions and did not premeditate or deliberate the attack.

Shi – who bought a ticket for a one-way flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Hong Kong – was arrested after arriving at the airport in Hong Kong and was sent back to the United States to stand trial.

The teens' father had been at a hospital with Shi's wife after the attack that left her with a broken nose and an injury to her head, the deputy district attorney told jurors.

The prosecutor said Shi "put the need for retribution" ahead of the lives of two innocent children.

Shi's estranged wife had sought a temporary restraining order against him and he had recently learned she had filed for divorce from Shi, who had been "abusive and controlling" with his wife for over a decade before she found strength in her family's support after moving from China to the United States, according to the prosecutor.

The deputy district attorney said "every act along the way" suggests that Shi was "in his right mind" and "knows what he's doing is wrong."

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Jurors saw surveillance video that Teymouri said shows there was "absolutely nothing unusual about the defendant" while he was at Los Angeles International Airport, and said his one-way flight to Hong Kong was consistent with his plan to flee to nearby China to avoid punishment.

Podberesky called it a "tragic, tragic case" in which the two teenage boys were "brutally bludgeoned," but said the issue jurors had to decide was whether her client had the mental capacity to deliberate and premeditate the killings.

The defense lawyer said Shi had a history of mental issues documented in hospital records from China dating back to when he was 15 years old.

The evidence supports a finding of "psychosis" stemming from schizoaffective disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Podberesky.

Shi's attorney cited "inexplicable acts of rage" by Shi in the months leading up to the killings, and told jurors that his actions were "so unprecedented" that his wife sought a restraining order against him.

"This is not a controlling man ... This is a man who is deteriorating," Podberesky said.

The defense attorney told jurors that Shi had delusions that the victims' father was monitoring him with strange equipment.

"These are not beliefs based in reality. They are delusions," she said.

Shi's lawyer said it was a "real fallacy to believe that somebody who's experiencing a deterioration of mental health can't do things" such as drive a car.

Podberesky noted that there was no evidence that Shi had ever demonstrated any animosity against the teens.

She contended that the prosecution has not met its burden to prove that the killings were done with premeditation and deliberation in arguing against first-degree murder.

In her rebuttal argument, the prosecutor countered that it was "never about the nephews," but instead about getting "the ultimate revenge" against the boys' father.

The deputy district attorney said what matters is whether the defendant was able to premeditate and deliberate at the time of the crimes, saying he was "deliberate in every one of his actions."

The prosecutor contended that Shi was "not in an active state of psychosis" when he committed the attacks.

"Find him fully responsible for his actions on that day," Teymouri told jurors.

Podberesky said she expects that Shi will appeal his conviction.