State Supreme Court to review bond of Yale slaying suspect

NEW HAVEN — The Connecticut Supreme Court will consider the $20 million bond set for Qinxuan Pan, the man accused of killing Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang, as part of its term next week.

Officials with the Connecticut judicial branch announced Thursday a petition from Pan to have his bond reviewed — the second proffered during the case — would be heard at 2 p.m. Sept. 8.

William Gerace, Pan’s attorney, filed the initial motion for Pan’s bail to be reviewed in June. He has said the $20 million bond, believed to be a record in the state, is too high to be reasonable — an amount “tantamount to no bond at all.”

In response to that initial motion, the state Supreme Court ordered Judge Brian Fischer, who set the bond, to articulate his reasoning or hold a hearing to establish the evidence on which he based it.

Fischer did so by the court’s July 15 deadline, citing Pan’s flight from the area in February after the killing, which prompted a nationwide manhunt; the slaying itself; Pan’s financial resources; his use of a false name; his connection to China; and the likelihood that he would flee the country, among other factors.

Judge Gerald Hamon then affirmed Pan’s bond at $20 million on July 28, saying he also believed Pan was an acute flight risk, among other factors. Fischer’s choice of bail was “appropriate,” he said.

In their announcement, judicial branch officials noted Harmon cited the “seriousness of the charged crime, the strength of the state’s case, the defendant’s lack of ties to Connecticut, his flight and his family’s assistance therewith, the $19,000 in cash found with him during his apprehension, and his mental health,” among other factors.

Pan subsequently filed the second petition, arguing that Fischer did not comply with the Supreme Court’s initial order in articulating the facts of the case, and, regardless, that his bond is unconstitutional “in that it is disproportionately high, he has limited financial resources and no international ties, and he has indicated that he is amenable to residing in Connecticut and being subject to electronic monitoring and/or house arrest if released on bond.”

Jiang was shot to death on Lawrence Street in the city’s East Rock neighborhood Feb. 6.

5 things we know about Qinxuan Pan’s arrest and the killing of Kevin Jiang

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.

City police obtained a warrant charging Pan with Jiang’s slaying in late February. The department had named him as a person of interest in the case Feb. 10.

Pan, formerly a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was not arrested until May 13 in Montgomery, Ala., following a search by U.S. marshals and others.

Zion Perry, Jiang’s fiancee, also attended MIT as an undergraduate student, graduating in 2020 with a degree in biological engineering.

Pan was living in Malden,

Mass., on the day he allegedly drove to New Haven and killed Jiang.

Affidavit: The guns, cars and DNA that led police to arrest Qinxuan Pan in slaying of Yale grad student.

Pan