Nanny’s arson trial on hold after her lawyer walks out

Mother and three children died in fire that police believe was intentionally set

The trial of a nanny accused of setting fire to an apartment and causing the death of a woman and her three children, was suspended on Thursday when the defendant’s lawyer walked out after failing to convince the court that the hearing should be moved to another jurisdiction.

Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, where the case was heard, said it had jurisdiction based on the Criminal Procedure Law. The attorney’s behavior was taken as a refusal to defend his client, which means the nanny can try to find another attorney within 15 days or have a new one appointed by the court.

The nanny, Mo Huanjing, is accused of starting a fire in a downtown apartment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on June 22 that killed her employer, Zhu Xiaozhen, and three children, ages 6, 8 and 11.

The trial opened at 9 am, and, Mo’s attorney, Dang Linshan, immediately raised an objection about the court’s authority to hear the case.

“The police and prosecutors accepted the oral testimonies of only two of the 84 firefighters who took part in the rescue operation that day, and they were not among the first batch of firefighters arriving at the scene, which I feel is not impartial,” Dang said.

“I am dissatisfied that the court denied my request to invite 38 firefighters to serve as witnesses,” he added.

While her lawyer addressed the judge, Mo, dressed in a black sports jacket, stood sobbing and trembling, flanked by three court officers.

Dang, an attorney at Guangdong Thai Law Firm, wrote on Sina Weibo that he had applied to the Supreme People’s Court on Nov 8 to move Mo’s hearing to a court outside Hangzhou, but had not yet received a reply.

He gave five reasons for his application, including that the police had “intentionally not collected evidence thoroughly” and that prosecutors had “ignored the fact the police evidence was incomplete”.

A letter from Mo was used in a news report by the Shanghai Morning Post on Thursday. She expressed regret and apologized, while calling for the public to pay more attention to the liability of the property management company and the fire department.

Mo also wrote that she would not get rid of her lawyer or look for another one.

Mixed views

Legal insiders had mixed reactions. Cheng Lei, an associate professor of law at Renmin University of China, said Dang’s application to the Supreme People’s Court lacked legal rationale.

“From the perspective of lawyers’ professional ethics, they should cooperate with courts for case hearings,” he said.

However, Deng Xueping, a lawyer at the Shanghai branch of Capital Equity Legal Group, said the Hangzhou court disrespected the authority of the Supreme People’s Court by opening the hearing before it had replied to Dang’s application.

Si Weijiang, a lawyer at Shanghai DeBund Law Offices, said that since there was no video surveillance of the scene, “the evidence provided by the fire department and the oral testimony of firefighters are crucial for an arson case”.

The trial was postponed to a later date. Si said a better solution for Mo is to look for another attorney.

Lin Shengbin, whose wife and three children died in the fire, told local media that he has asked for the death penalty for Mo.

According to a document from the prosecuting agency, Mo was addicted to online gambling, had stolen valuable objects from her employers and had borrowed money on several occasions.

Shi Xiaofeng contributed to this story.