Life for Chinese chemist who killed husband
Print Edition
A CHINESE-BORN chemist who worked for a decade for one of America’s biggest pharmaceutical companies was a cold, calculating murderer who poisoned her husband rather than let him divorce her, according to the judge who sentenced her to life in prison.
Li Tianle won’t be eligible for parole for more than 62 years for the killing of Wang Xiaoye, a computer software engineer, in early 2011, state Superior Court Judge Michael Toto said on Monday. “This was planned, calculated and committed in a cruel and depraved manner.”
Li, 43, was convicted in July of murder and hindering apprehension. Her attorney had sought a 30-year sentence.
Li continues to deny any role in her husband’s death, said her attorney, Steven Altman. In a brief, tear-filled statement read in court, Li said she prays for her husband’s soul and will appeal the verdict. The couple have a four-year-old son who is being looked after by relatives.
Li worked for New York City-based biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prosecutors introduced evidence during the trial that she ordered thallium, a tasteless, odorless poison, through work in 2010 after researching its effects on humans.
Thallium has been banned for consumer use in the US since 1972. It can be fatal in doses as small as a gram and has been called the perfect poison because it’s difficult to detect in lab tests.
It was initially suspected to be the toxin used in the 2006 fatal poisoning in London of former Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, but it was later determined he had ingested the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210.
Wang, 39, checked into a hospital in January 2011 suffering from what appeared to be a virus. He lapsed into a coma and died.
Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said Li “calculated every aspect of her husband’s murder; not only how to do it, but how to get away with it. She chose to murder her husband rather than allow him to divorce her.”
Li, who is from Beijing, came to the US in the late 1990s and worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb for about 10 years. She met Wang when they were studying at the University of Pennsylvania. The couple lived in Monroe, New Jersey, and prosecutors said at the time of Li’s arrest police had been called to the home several times for domestic disturbances.
Altman told the court that disputes arose from culture clashes between the Americanized Li and her husband’s more traditional family, who had come to help the couple care for their son.
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