Teenage killer has 20K supporters, gets death penalty anyway
(USER SUBMITTED) - When Li Shiming was stabbed to death, few of his fellow villagers mourned the local Communist Party official. Instead, villagers in Xiashuixi, China, made Li's teenage killer, who was paid $146 to do the deed, a local hero. More than 20,000 people from the coal-mining area petitioned a court for a lenient sentence for Zhang Xuping, the AP reports. "I didn't feel surprised at all when I heard Li Shiming was killed, because people wanted to kill him a long time ago," says a villager whose husband was harassed for years by Li. "I wanted to kill Li myself, but I was too weak." More»
