Life sentence upheld for man convicted in arson case that killed 8

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision to commute the death sentence for a man found guilty of arson that led to the deaths of eight of his family members in June 2022 to life in prison.

The ruling is final.

The Taiwan High Court commuted the death sentence handed down by the Hsinchu District Court to Chen Yen-hsiang (陳彥翔) last December to life imprisonment after he showed remorse by handing himself over to authorities, a court statement at the time showed.

It was the first commutation since Taiwan's Constitutional Court issued its ruling in the Death Penalty Constitutionality Interpretation Case (Constitutional Court ruling No. 8, 2024), stating that the death penalty was only partially constitutional and should only be used in the most extreme cases.

Chen set fire to his home in Hsinchu in 2022, resulting in the deaths of eight people, including his mother, wife and three children.

In its December ruling, the High Court described the act of starting the fire as morally reprehensible and the murders as particularly cruel. It deemed the crime the most serious and initially decided that he should receive the death penalty, High Court spokesman Wang Ping-hsia said at the time.

However, due to the remorse he showed, the suggestion he could attempt suicide and his voluntary confession, it was decided his sentence should be commuted to life in prison, per Article 62 of the Criminal Code, Wang added.

Prosecutors subsequently filed an appeal against the December ruling, arguing that Chen had an intent to kill. This was rejected by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Supreme Court ruled that Chen's crime qualifies as the most serious offense under two United Nations human rights covenants and last year's Constitutional Court Judgment No. 8.

However, case files reveal that when police arrived at the scene, there was no direct evidence linking Chen to the arson. Instead, Chen voluntarily confessed to his actions, leading to his immediate arrest.

This behavior fulfilled the surrender requirement under the Criminal Code, resulting in a sentence reduction in accordance with the law.