Man charged in Yale student’s death has court case continued
NEW HAVEN — The case of Qinxuan Pan, accused of the slaying of Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang, was continued again during a short hearing Thursday, with plans to either hold a probable cause hearing or move forward with the matter.
Judge Gerald Harmon set Sept. 6 as a date for the hearing during brief court proceedings on Thursday.
Attorney Kevin Smith, representing Pan, agreed to the date, saying the legal team would inform the court if they planned to waive their client’s right to the hearing.
Pan, arrested in May 2021, has not yet entered a plea to the murder charge levied against him in connection with Jiang’s death.
A potential probable cause hearing has been put off multiple times over with Harmon granting Pan and his attorneys further time to review the evidence.
Jiang was shot to death on Lawrence Street in the city’s East Rock neighborhood Feb. 6, 2021.
Born in Seattle and raised in Chicago, Jiang served as an environmental scientist/engineering officer and tank operator in the U.S. Army and National Guard. He graduated from the University of Washington before coming to Yale. He was a certified fitness trainer and ran his own studio after serving in the military.
Those who knew Jiang have described him as a person of faith and energy, including his parents, speaking during his funeral at Trinity Baptist Church in New Haven.
Jiang lived “full-heartedly, enthusiastically,” like a “ray of sunlight,” his mother, Linda Liu said.
Jiang became engaged to Zion Perry, also a graduate student at Yale, about a week before his slaying. Photos later emerged online appearing to show Perry and Pan together at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology dance in 2020. Perry and Pan were friends on Facebook, where she posted about the engagement.
New Haven police obtained a warrant charging Pan with Jiang’s slaying in February 2021. The department had named him as a person of interest in the case Feb. 10, 2021.
Pan allegedly stole a GMC Terrain on Feb. 6, 2021 and changed his cellphone number before coming to Connecticut, according to a police report from Mansfield, Mass.
North Haven police stopped Pan that evening as he drove onto railroad tracks near Sims Metal Management.
According to an affidavit from that community, North Haven officers had received a different description for the New Haven homicide suspect, so they let Pan go.
On the day after the interaction with Pan, North Haven police were called to the Arby’s at 267 Washington Ave., where employees reported finding a bag containing a firearm and ammunition, along with other items, according to the North Haven affidavit.
In a request for a search warrant to obtain OnStar data from the Terrain, Detective David Zaweski wrote in the New Haven affidavit that Pan had “rented, and kept overnight,” a different vehicle on the day of each shooting associated with the cartridge casings found at the scene of Jiang’s death.
The Ruger was not connected with the shell casings found at the scene of Jiang’s death. Police still were searching for the firearm used in the slaying when the affidavit was written.
Fingerprints determined to match Pan’s were found on the Ruger, according to the New Haven affidavit. Residue consistent with gunfire was found on a yellow coat found at Arby’s, the affidavit stated.
Pan, formerly a graduate student at MIT, was not arrested until May 13, 2021 in Montgomery, Ala., following a search by U.S. marshals and others.
His bail was set at $20 million on May 20, 2021 as he was arraigned on a charge of murder.
Pan subsequently filed a petition for the Connecticut Supreme Court to review his bond, arguing it was disproportionately high. A review of the bond remains ongoing, Pan’s attorneys said.
Under the state constitution, defendants have the right to be “released on bail upon sufficient security.” The justices considered the meaning of that phrase during a Sept. 8 hearing.
During that hearing, defense attorney Norm Pattis raised the example of Peter Manfredonia, accused of two killings, kidnapping, home invasion and other crimes, in which bail initially was set at $5 million.
“The Pan family wonders whether this is Yale, the shadow of Yale, cast on the criminal courts,” Pattis said.