Statements Coerced, Lawyer Says

The attorney for accused double murderer Wenkai Li contends his client was coerced into making statements to officers soon after his June 5 arrest in Wyoming.

Latah County public defender Michael Henegen filed a brief Wednesday in support of his motion to suppress evidence gathered in Wyoming after Li’s arrest outside a Laramie fast food restaurant.

Wyoming investigators violated Li’s right to remain silent by bringing a tape recorder into his cell and by placing an officer with a dog close by, Henegen wrote.

“To anyone experienced with our legal system these tactics would be intimidating and coercive,” he wrote. “To one who spoke limited English it would be terrifying. No wonder the defendant felt he had to speak with the officers and everyone else.”

Li is scheduled to stand trial starting Nov. 6 in 2nd District Court on two counts of first-degree murder for the Memorial Day stabbing deaths of University of Idaho doctoral student Ning Li and his wife, Xia Ge.

Wenkai Li allegedly confessed to Wyoming authorities that he murdered the pair, but prosecutors avoided entering the confession as evidence during a preliminary hearing.

“That the defendant asserted his right to remain silent is not disputed,” Henegen wrote in his brief. “There was simply no reason for officers to enter a holding cell with the defendant except to coerce him into giving a statement.”

Henegen includes a number of excerpts in his brief from transcripts of Li’s interrogation in Wyoming, including an extended interview that begins with Albany County Sheriff Gary Puls asking, “OK, do you have a good grasp of the English language, do you understand what I’m telling you right now?”

Li answers by saying, “Most of my rights I don’t understand.”

, DataTimes