I dare not admit it for fear of the death penalty! Chinese crewman who transported 600 kilograms of drugs was sentenced to life before asking for a reduced sentence

A Chinese crew member surnamed Li was involved in transporting first-class drugs. He did not dare to plead guilty for fear of being sentenced to death. He did not change his plea for mercy until he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial. He, the captain surnamed Sun, and the crew member surnamed Hou smuggled nearly 600 kilograms of drugs in Dongsha waters. They were intercepted in Dongsha waters. The Tainan High Branch Court changed the sentence of Li Nan to June 2019, Hou Nan to June 16, and Sun Nan to 17 years.

According to the prosecutor's investigation, Sun Nan and others were intercepted by the coast guard while waiting to pick up drugs in Dongsha waters. 498 pieces of heroin, 399 packages of marijuana, 15 packages of nitrazepam and 17 packages of white powder mixed with amphetamines were found on the ship, with a total weight of nearly 600 kilograms. In the first instance, the Tainan District Court sentenced Sun Nan, the captain who pleaded guilty, to 17 years in prison, and Hou Nan, who was in charge of cooking, to 17 and June for transporting first-level drugs. Li Nan, who always denied it, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Seeing that Li Nan was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, he quickly changed his plea to plead guilty in the second instance. He cried to the judge and told the judge that he was too afraid to admit the crime in the first instance because he was too afraid of being sentenced to death. He only graduated from elementary school and committed the crime in a daze. He never received the 10,000 yuan monthly salary he agreed to pay. He also had three minor children and elderly parents to support at home. He asked the judge to give him a lighter sentence.

Hou Nan, who was also involved in the case, also appealed and claimed that he was invited by Li Nan to cook on the ship, but his documents were taken away by the upstream "agent" and he was forced to obey the order by his boss. In addition, his mother was worried about his eye disease and his wife's cancer, and he hoped to have his sentence reduced. Sun Nan claimed that he suffered from various diseases and his eyesight deteriorated while in custody in the detention center, and actively confessed the source of drugs, requesting a reduced sentence.

The collegial court of second instance believed that Li Nan was just a crew member who followed orders, and that the drugs were intercepted at sea and did not flow into Taiwan. After appealing, he pleaded guilty and the life sentence was too harsh, so the sentence was changed to June 2019. Hou Nan pleaded guilty at the first police interrogation in September last year, which was in line with the reduced sentence for confession, and his sentence was commuted to June 2016. Sun Nan played a non-marginal role as a captain, and the Coast Guard Tainan Investigation Team also confirmed that there were no specific clues upstream that he gave, so the appeal was dismissed.