Chinese student’s killer was girl, 16
Print Edition
AN 18-year-old woman has been convicted in the beating to death of a Chinese graduate student in 2014 at the University of Southern California as he walked home after a late-night study session.
Alejandra Guerrero, 16 at the time of the attack, was the first of four people to be tried in the killing of 24-year-old Ji Xinran, an electrical engineering student, near the school campus in an attempted robbery.
Guerrero was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges.
Authorities said Ji was attacked with a wrench and a baseball bat as he walked to his off-campus apartment after a late-night study group. The student escaped the four attackers initially, but they caught him a block away and continued the beating until he was on his knees.
Ji later managed to stagger to his apartment, leaving a quarter-mile trail of blood. A roommate found him dead in bed the next morning.
Though Guerrero was a juvenile at the time of the crime, she was prosecuted as an adult. The jury convicted her of first-degree murder, and she is facing a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison, which will be decided on November 28.
In closing arguments, prosecutor John McKinney told the seven-woman, five-man jury that Guerrero “minimizes her own involvement” by saying she hit Ji on the hand with a wrench and lied when interviewed by police.
Awaiting separate trials
The remaining three attackers, Jonathan Del Carmen, 21, Andrew Garcia, 20, and Alberto Ochoa, 19, are awaiting trial separately in connection with Ji’s death. Those trials will be held next year.
Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against Del Carmen and Garcia. Guerrero and Ochoa can’t face capital punishment because they were minors at the time.
“Though Ji’s family will never get to see their beloved son again, this should help his family find a little peace knowing that this case has helped unite the Chinese community across the country to fight for their justice,” lawyer Daniel Deng said after the conviction.
The defendants admitted they targeted Ji because he was Chinese and they thought he had money.
“This underlies a very serious stereotype that all Chinese students are rich,” said Deng.
The killing renewed concerns about safety at USC, where two other Chinese graduate students were killed in 2012.
The attack caused a massive response across US. Many activist groups held a number of press conferences demanding justice for the brutal killing of Ji.
Ji’s murder came just two years after 22-year-old Javier Bolden gunned down two USC students from China, Qu Min and Wu Ying. The tragedy made the USC tighten campus security and caused concern among Chinese parents who had sent their children abroad.
“Ji’s tragedy shows the potential safety problem many Chinese students are facing,” said Deng. “It also sends a strong message to the millions of tourists coming to the country every year that America might not be as safe as they think.”
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