A Chinese father on Friday appealed for justice for his murdered 19-year-old daughter in opposition to a prosecutor’s arrangement with the perpetrator to mitigate criminal punishment.
Jiang Yong, who arrived in the United States from China several days ago, told reporters that he was shocked and outraged by the plea agreement the local attorney’s office has offered the American woman charged with first degree murder in the death of his daughter, Jiang Yue, in the state of Arizona in January 2016.
Under the new arrangement, Holly Davis, in her thirties, would face a 25-year sentence and up to 250,000 U.S. dollars in restitution in exchange for pleading guilty to second degree murder and dismissal of all the other charges, Phoenix New Times reported.
Prosecutors initially sought to charge Davis on 14 criminal counts, including first degree murder, aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and endangerment. Davis pleaded not guilty to all the charges at the initial hearing in February 2016, and entered into a plea agreement in February this year.
The plea agreement is yet to be approved by a judge, with a hearing scheduled for next week. First degree murder would mean life imprisonment or even a death sentence for Davis.
Jiang Yong has asked for justice to serve Davis right. Daniel Deng, the founder of Deng Law Center, who has offered legal assistance to the Jiang family, said, “The killing was clearly an intentional act,” and that a conviction of second degree murder would fall short of Davis’s crime.
Jiang Yue, a Chinese exchange student and sophomore with the Arizona State University based in the state capital Phoenix, died in hospital after being shot by Davis.
The tragedy happened when Jiang drove in the nearby city Tempe and was rear-ended by Davis, who got off her vehicle, walked over to Jiang’s car and opened fire. Jiang lost control when trying to drive away and crashed into another car carrying a family of five. Davis fled the scene and was later taken into custody by the police.
Before the shooting, Davis had a handwritten note to her boyfriend indicating she would be on the news.
