ALHAMBRA — A man was convicted on Wednesday, March 13, of the bludgeoning deaths of his then-estranged wife’s two teenage nephews in the boys’ Arcadia home.
The Alhambra jury — which was handed the case late Tuesday — found Deyun Shi guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the Jan. 22, 2016, slayings of 15-year-old Anthony Lin, who was asleep when he was attacked with bolt cutters, and the teen’s 16-year-old brother, William, who was killed while studying in a separate room.
Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and allegations that he personally used a deadly weapon, along with convicting the 52-year-old man of one count of corporal injury for an attack on his then-wife in La Cañada Flintridge with a wood-splitting tool the night before the killings.
The panel is due back in court Thursday afternoon for the start of the trial’s next phase, in which jurors will be asked to determine whether Shi was sane or insane at the time of the crimes.
He could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if jurors determine that he was sane.
Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri told jurors in her closing argument Tuesday that Shi planned the teens’ bludgeoning deaths in an “act of revenge” against the family of his estranged wife, who had filed for divorce.
One of Shi’s attorneys, Vicki Podberesky, argued that her client was suffering from delusions and did not premeditate or deliberate the attack.
Shi — who bought a one-way flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Hong Kong — was arrested after arriving at the airport in Hong Kong and was sent back to the United States to stand trial.
The teens’ father had been at the hospital with Shi’s wife after the attack that left her with a broken nose and an injury to her head, the deputy district attorney told jurors.
The prosecutor said Shi “put the need for retribution” ahead of the lives of two innocent…
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