A file photo on Jan. 8 shows Lin Senhao in court where he heard that his appeal against a death sentence for murdering his roommate at Fudan University on April Fool's Day in 2013 had been rejected. Lin's lawyers said they will appeal the verdict at the Supreme People's Court. (Photo/Xinhua)
Lawyers for a former Fudan University medical student sentenced to death for poisoning his roommate today sought to persuade China's Supreme People's Court to commute his sentence.
Si Weijiang, one of Lin Senhao's lawyers, said the collegial panel, consisting of three judges, asked their opinion on the case, the Beijing Times reported.
It was a listening session with no announcement afterward.
According to Si, they gave four reasons why Lin, who poisoned the water cooler he shared with fellow student Huang Yang, should receive a lighter sentence.
The lawyers said that quantity of chemical N-Nitrosodimethylamine Huang ingested wasn't enough to prove fatal; that experts claimed that viral hepatitis B may have killed Huang; that Lin had only intended to hurt his roommmate, not kill him; and that there were procedural problems in Lin's trial.
Lin has been questioned by the supreme court judges, Si said.
The panel said it will hear the case and give a judgment later.
Lin, 28, put toxic chemical taken from a university lab in a water dispenser in his dormitory on March 31, 2013. His roommate Huang fell ill after drinking the water from the dispenser the next day and later died of organ failure.
On January 8, the appeal court of the Shanghai Higher People's Court upheld Lin's death sentence.
