Fourth defendant gets life for 2014 murder of Chinese USC student

After four years and eight months, the case surrounding the tragic death of Chinese student Ji Xinran came to an end on Friday when a California judge sentenced the last defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Alberto Ochoa, 22, the fourth defendant, was sentenced for his role in the 2014 brutal baseball bat attack that led to the death of Ji, then a 24-year-old electrical engineering graduate student at the University of Southern California.

A downtown Los Angeles jury found Ochoa guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree robbery and other charges in December. Ochoa’s attorney has filed an appeal of the life sentence, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Ji was robbed and attacked by a group of teenagers shortly before 1 am on July 24, 2014, while walking back to his apartment alone after escorting a female classmate to her dormitory after a study group.

After being beaten repeatedly with a bat and wrench, Ji staggered to his apartment where he was found dead hours later by a roommate.

Co-defendants Alejandra Guerrero, 20, and Andrew Garcia, 23, were already sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of firstdegree murder in October 2016 and August 2017, respectively.

Getaway driver Jonathan Del Carmen, 23, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August 2017, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

According to Deputy District Attorney John McKinney, the prosecutor in the case, Ochoa hit Ji with a baseball bat, which was a “substantial factor” in Ji’s death.

Ji’s parents had traveled to Los Angeles to attend court hearings in the past, but were unable to attend Friday’s sentencing.

“They understand now the case is finally over, they have to move on with their life too, they have to,” Rose Tsai, an attorney representing Ji’s family, told reporters at the courthouse. “But these are all making it a little bit easier for them to survive their everyday lives.”

Ji was his parents’ only child. The murder shocked the Chinese student community in the US and prompted discussions about overseas students’ safety.

In response to the attack, USC improved security measures on their campus, which included upgrading security cameras and increasing security staff in and around campus, which is located in downtown Los Angeles.

About half of USC’s international student population of 11,300 are from China, according to the school’s website, AFP reported.