On February 9, 2024, Chen Liren (first from right), a suspect in the murder of his wife by a Chinese engineer at Google, and lawyer Wesley Schroeder (first from left) appeared in court in San Jose, California for the first time. (Xue Mingzhu/The Epoch Times)
[The Epoch Times, February 10, 2024](Reported by Epoch Times reporters Lin Yan and Xue Mingzhu) Friday (February 9) was the Chinese New Year’s Eve, and some Chinese once again came to the Santa Clara County Courthouse in California. Observed the trial of the case of a Chinese Google engineer who murdered his wife. The suspect Chen Liren appeared in court for the first time for a hearing. His eyes were dull throughout and he received court translation services. At the same time, the judge decided to go to court again on April 19.
After postponing his arraignment five times, Chen Liren was transferred from the hospital to the Santa Clara County North Jail in California on Tuesday. Friday was his sixth arraignment and his first appearance in a San Jose court. Chen Liren was wearing an orange-red shirt, a yellow vest, red pants, handcuffs on his hands, and the most conspicuous thing was a white safety helmet on his head.
Friday’s arraignment lasted only a few minutes and mainly involved whether Chen needed an interpreter and setting a next court date. Chen’s attorney did not enter a plea.
Chen Liren and his wife Yu Xuanyi both studied at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of California, San Diego, and are both software engineers at Google. On January 16, 27-year-old Chen Liren allegedly hit his wife Yu Xuanyi repeatedly on the head with his fist in a residence worth more than $2 million on Valley Way in Santa Clara, causing her death.
Chen Liren was accused of murdering his wife. The prosecutor’s indictment stated that the defendant involved serious violence and threats of serious bodily harm, and his behavior was extremely cruel. If convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
This murder has attracted the attention of Chinese people around the world. Everyone feels sorry for the young life lost and is also shocked by this tragedy.
Friend: I hope an open trial will prevent the tragedy from happening again
Li Xing (pseudonym), a Chinese who participated in Friday’s court hearing, said that he and Chen Liren are colleagues and classmates.
In an interview, he said that their circle was very small and everyone was shocked by this tragedy because it happened without warning.
Li Xing revealed that after the tragedy, everyone was re-examining themselves and dissecting their worldview. Even the week after Chen Liren was arrested, people were in a daze because they felt so much that they would even imagine that one day they would be the same. Beat your wife.
Li Xing said that many rumors about this matter on the Internet were not true. For example, when the news first came out that it was a shooting and suicide, they did not expect it to be Chen Liren. Later, they found out that it was him who was involved in the accident because they suddenly found that they could not contact Chen. .
“We very much hope that this case can be heard openly, so that the perpetrator – I hope to find a suitable adjective – can come out for interviews or visits, and face people he knows well to say some things that cannot be told to the media. Because many public opinions tie the case to the school and workplace where Chen attended, I find it hard to agree with this because it is an exception,” Li Xing said outside the court.
He said he wanted to know why the tragedy happened.
“I’m not speaking for Chen, but I hope everyone can avoid such a tragedy from happening again,” Li Xing said.
“If I were a woman and a victim, when would I know when the warning signal appeared?” he said. “Facing similar situations, let everyone know how to take appropriate measures at the appropriate time.”
He said that because the disaster had already occurred, no matter how the perpetrators were punished, the victims would never be able to come back.
Friend: I want to find a fake reasonable reason to explain
Li Xing said that he and Chen Liren used to have dinner together on average once every one or two months.
He said that Chen Liren was cheerful, loyal and full of ideas.
In their circle of colleagues and friends, there was nothing unusual about Chen in the days before the incident, and they had never heard of any quarrels or posting conflicts between the couple in the group.
Li Xing said that everyone wants to find an explanation, even if it is a fake reasonable reason to explain the matter.
“I feel that before this happened, I would never have been wary of him.” Li Xing said.
Another colleague who has known Chen Liren for three years and worked in his previous internship unit said that her impression of Chen Liren was that he was very reliable. They used to work together through the Internet.
She said that the person whose Chinese name was Chen Liren was first reported when the incident came out. It was only on the third day that she thought it was Tonny Chen, a former colleague she knew.
She said that this incident had a great impact on her because everyone’s education and work background were so similar to Chen Liren’s.
Colleague: Let Chen Liren explain the matter clearly before drawing any conclusions.
A Google employee revealed in an interview with The Epoch Times that they had a lot of internal discussions about the Chen Liren murder case. At first, two or three similar cases were confused together, especially on mainland Chinese websites, Weibo or A lot of it is wrong information, and a lot of it is just to add fuel to the fire and spread rumors. Therefore, they finally unanimously decided not to believe these Internet rumors, but to read the US police report and wait for Chen Liren to appear in court.
He said that everyone is inclined to let Chen Liren explain the facts clearly in court first, and then discuss it later.
This insider revealed that colleagues who knew Chen Liren said that they could not tell anything strange about him before the accident, because the couple was very normal in the company, and it is possible that they usually behaved stronger outside.
“This should be the only such vicious incident at Google.” A person familiar with the matter said. “Actually, the company treats its employees very well. We have many ways to seek help. Everyone is under great pressure at work, but the company provides many ways to consult and help employees.”
As for the reason why Chen Liren beat his wife to death, whether it was due to work pressure or family issues, no one knew the answer because no one felt anything unusual.
People familiar with the matter said that company layoffs will put pressure on everyone, but at most if they are laid off, they will go to work for another company. When the market situation is good, they can go to a better company.
“Everyone will have pressure. There will definitely be pressure. This result will not be caused by pressure.” said an insider. He analyzed that even if one party of Chen Liren and his wife is affected by layoffs, the other party may not be affected, so in fact, their pressure should not be so great, and they do not have children yet.
He revealed that some of his colleagues knew the victim Yu Xuan’s family, and they were helping Yu Xuanyi’s parents apply for emergency visas to come to the United States.
“We try to help as colleagues, but we don’t criticize any party because the facts are not clear yet,” said a person familiar with the matter.
Michael Gadeberg, the prosecutor in this case, confirmed in an interview with the media outside the court on Friday that Yu Xuan’s family had arrived in the United States and that the two parties met that day.
“They are mourning. This is an extremely difficult time for them, and we are supporting them as much as possible. But I also want to respect their privacy.” He said that Yu Xuanyi’s family did not appear at the court hearing that day. .
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei#
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2024-02-10 04:18:00
