A man out for revenge broke into his La Canada Flintridge home on Jan. 21, 2016, attacked his estranged wife with a wood-splitting tool then headed to Arcadia the next day where he beat to death his two nephews with a bolt cutter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday.
Deyun Shi’s wife, Amy Lin, had filed for a divorce. Her abusive husband found out about it during a court hearing over a temporary restraining order his mother-in-law wanted against him, Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri said during opening statements at Shi’s trial at Alhambra Superior Court.
Before that hearing, she said, Shi went on a Chinese website similar to Quora and asked whether a Chinese citizen who returns to China after committing a crime overseas could avoid punishment. That showed he had an idea, Teymouri added.
When he found out about the divorce, he had a plan, she said.
Shi faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the Jan. 22, 2016 murders of 15-year-old Anthony Lin and 16-year-old William Lin and injuring his wife the day before.
He was also charged with the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders as well as the allegations that he personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a bolt cutter, to commit the murders, inflicted great bodily injury on his wife under circumstances involving domestic violence and personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a maul, in the attack on his spouse.
“The defendant took a bolt cutter and bludgeoned Anthony Lim in the head. Only the head. Killing him as he slept,” Teymouri said.
His other nephew fought back. William Lin had significant injuries to his head and injuries to his arm consistent with someone who fought for his life, she said.
Vicki Podberesky, who is one of Shi’s lawyers, said this case is about mental health.
“On Jan. 21 and Jan. 22, 2016, Mr. Shi was acting under an active mental illness,” she said.
Shi has schizoaffective traumatic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder,…
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