International FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2014 Suspect admits Chinese student murders in US LOS ANGELES: A man accused of murdering two ing. “Every life deserves respect, and he has no right to nine days, our joy had turned to mourning because you Chinese students in Los Angeles in 2012 pleaded guilty take away my daughter’s life,” he said through an inter- killed them in cold blood,” he said, addressing Barnes Wednesday and was immediately jailed for life, as the preter. “My daughter is gone, so is my hope. “Our tears directly. “Our children left us and you took our heart and victims’ parents spoke of their desolation. Bryan Barnes, have not dried, and the only reason that gives us soul away. “You devastated our lives. You deserve the 21, admitted two charges of first degree murder over the courage to live is waiting to see today... My family and I death penalty.” shooting deaths of Ying Wu and Ming Qu, killed as they want to see the murderer receive his due punishment,” Barnes and Bolden were arrested in May 2012 after sat in a car in April 2012 near the University of Southern he said. Wanzhi Qu said his son “came with beautiful being traced by the dead couple’s stolen cell phones. California campus. LA Superior Court Judge Stephen dreams but died tragically.” They have been held in custody without bail since then. Marcus told the victims’ parents he was “deeply sorry” “After my son passed away, my wife and I always “This was a horrific tragedy,” the judge said after giving and hoped the court proceedings would provide “some wake up crying at night. In our dreams, our beloved son Barnes two life prison terms without parole for the dou- measure of justice.” A co-defendant, Javier Bolden, is still is covered in blood, crying out to us, ‘Dad, I am so cold. I ble murder, which detectives said appeared to be a car- awaiting trial. suffered a horrible death for absolutely no reason! You jacking gone wrong. Barnes avoided a possible execu- The victims, both 23 years old, were studying electri- must help me get justice!’ Qu added. “Son, I am here tion by pleading guilty. Bolden, 21, is due back in court cal engineering at USC and had planned to marry. today to help you get justice.” Qu said he had been March 12 for a pretrial hearing. Prosecutors have not yet Xiyong Wu said his daughter had come to America with excited that his son had fallen in love with Ying Wu, decided whether they will seek the death penalty a dream, and planned to return to China after graduat- whom he was looking forward to meeting. “But, in only against him.— AFP North threatens to renege Texas performs on reunions with S Korea SEOUL: North Korea threatened our position that an agreement yesterday to renege on an agree- must be honored under any circum- rare execution ment to hold a reunion for families stances,” the South’s Unification divided by the Korean War unless Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae told South Korea scraps planned military reporters. The NDC voiced particu- drills with the United States. The lar outrage over what it said were 14th US woman to die since 1976 threat came barely a day after the US B-52 bombers “carrying out two sides set dates for the reunion. nuclear strike drills” off the Korean WASHINGTON: Texas performed a rare execution Musso was burned with cigarettes and beaten with It drew a sharp rebuke from Seoul, peninsula on Wednesday as the of a woman Wednesday, putting to death a prison- belts, baseball bats and hobnailed boots by Basso which warned Pyongyang against talks on the reunions were being er convicted of the brutal murder of a mentally dis- and five accomplices. His body, bloodied and bat- dashing the hopes of separated held. abled man 15 years ago. Suzanne Basso, 59, was tered beyond recognition, was found dumped in a family members in the North and The US Pacific Command only the 14th woman to be put to death in the roadside ditch near Houston in August 1998, South. responded by saying it had main- United States in more than three decades, after los- according to court documents. Despite a series of In a statement broadcast on tained a “rotational strategic ing a last-ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court. appeals that led all the way to the US Supreme state television, the North’s top mil- bomber presence” in the region for She was pronounced dead at 6:26 pm at Huntsville Court, Basso’s death sentence had been recon- itary body, the National Defense more than a decade. Seoul and Prison, 11 minutes after lethal drugs flowed into firmed several times. Commission (NDC), said it was “out- Washington have both made it her veins, a prison spokeswoman said. Prior to that, rageous” for South Korea to push clear that there is no question of ahead with the joint military exer- the upcoming joint military drills Basso made no final statement, said Jason Clark, Basso’s health questioned cises when cross-border efforts being called off, no matter what spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Anti-death penalty advocates had condemned were being made for reconciliation. pressure North Korea chooses to Justice. Basso’s looming execution on the grounds that her “Dialogue and exercises of war of exert. As well as the joint drills, the The wheelchair-bound killer, who weighed 350 physical and psychological state-she had shown aggression... cannot go hand in NDC also condemned “slanderous” pounds at the time of her arrest in September 1999, signs of suffering from mental illness-meant she hand,” the NDC said. The annual attacks in the South Korean media, was sentenced to die for the horrific slaying of posed no threat to society. In a Supreme Court South-US joint drills are scheduled with special reference to reports of Louis “Buddy” Musso in 1998, whom she murdered brief, Basso’s lawyer Winston Cochran pointed to to begin late February, despite the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s in an attempt to benefit from his life insurance. her “long history of delusional thinking and mental North’s repeated demands for their recent visit to an orphanage. disorders,” adding that prison doctors had diag- cancellation. A picture of Kim wearing shoes nosed her with clinical depression. “She had a horri- The dates agreed Wednesday for while interacting with the orphans ble childhood. She’s been delusional since way the family reunions were February in their dormitory was pilloried in back then. She was molested, she grew up in 20-25, which would likely see them the South. The leading conservative poverty; all school records show she had mental overlap with the start of the military South Korean daily, the Chosun health problems,” Cochran said in an interview. exercises. It would be the first Ilbo, said it displayed an “unimagin- He said his client’s death sentence should have reunion event in more than three able” lack of manners. Koreans nev- been reversed years ago due to only “sporadic” evi- years, and the accord was hailed as er wear outdoor shoes inside the dence, suggesting they had been singled out for a possible harbinger of warmer ties home - especially not in living her physical appearance and her attitude. “She was between the arch rivals. But yester- areas. “We cannot but reconsider grossly obese, a sour personality, unattractive. day’s NDC statement appeared to the implementation of an agree- Right from the beginning, they said we’re gonna go back up those who had warned that ment that was already reached as Pyongyang would use the reunion long as there is a continued move with the theory that she’s the ring leader,” the agreement as a bargaining chip to to hurt the dignity of our supreme attorney added. And of the six defendants, Basso extract concessions from Seoul. The leadership and slander our system,” was the only one who got the death penalty South Korean government issued a said the NDC statement. despite lack of proof over how Musso was killed. statement condemning the North’s The South Korean government stance, and stressing there could be stressed that it had done nothing to Women rarely executed no linkage between the reunion slander the North, and dismissed As of January 1, 2013, the 60 female prisoners on and the drills. the complaint as an unworkable death row accounted for just two percent of the “North Korea should not repeat demand to muzzle the domestic total inmate population awaiting execution in the its behavior of hurting the elderly press. The annual South-US drills, United State. “The numbers are very small because separated families who have waited which Pyongyang routinely con- generally women do not often commit the kind of for the reunions for more than 60 demns as rehearsals for invasion, aggravated murder for which the death penalty is years,” the statement said. “We are always a diplomatic flashpoint sought,” said Richard Dieter, who heads the Death make it clear that it is imperative for on the Korean peninsula. Last year’s Penalty Information Center. There have been 571 North Korea to fulfill the agreement exercises resulted in an unusually recorded executions of women since the first in on family reunions this time,” it sharp and extended surge in mili- 1632. That represents just under three percent of added. A reunion planned for tary tensions that saw North Korea TEXAS: This handout image provided by the the total executions carried out since 1608.