People v. Li CA5

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

The Merced County District Attorney charged Li in a first amended information with one count of murder (Pen. Code,1 § 187, subd. (a).) A jury convicted him of first degree murder under a premeditation theory. On March 22, 2023, the trial court sentenced him to 25 years to life.

FACTS

I. Prosecution’s case

Around 6:30 a.m. on February 6, 2017,2 the body of a woman, later identified as Lijun Wang, was found in a dumpster behind a Rite Aid in Merced. She was in the fetal position and wrapped in three plastic garbage bags. She wore blue jeans and a silver puffy jacket, and there was blood around her face, nose, and mouth. Wang had a receipt in her jacket pocket from a Draeger’s Market in San Mateo dated February 5 at 10:19 a.m. Surveillance footage from Draeger’s Market showed Wang inside the store shortly after 10:00 a.m. on February 5, wearing the same clothes that were found on her in the dumpster. On February 7, Dr. Mark Super, a forensic pathologist, performed the autopsy. There were chips of white paint on the skin of Wang’s back and in her hair. There were also paint chips in the bags which contained her body. From her neck up, Wang had “pinpoint…