Lin Senhao stands trial at Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court in this Feb 18, 2014 file photo. (Photo/Xinhua)
The lawyer of a Fudan University medical student in Shanghai sentenced to death for poisoning his roommate claimed Thursday that the victim might have died from drug allergies.
Xie Tongxiang, the lawyer of Lin Senhao, submitted seven application letters to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Thursday, requesting a reexamination of the cause of death of the victim, Huang Yang. Xie said that the top court has accepted the documents and said they would be evaluated, China Youth Daily reported.
Xie said earlier test reports were incomplete and substandard.
"If Huang died of poison, why were no metabolite substances found in his system? Several liver disease and forensic experts have said that Huang's symptoms did not correspond with the poison, but were consistent with drug-induced hepatic disease, drug allergies or acute viral hepatitis B," Xie wrote in a letter.
The Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court convicted Lin of intentional homicide in the first trial and sentenced him to death in February 2014.
The Shanghai High People's Court upheld the death sentence in January this year but the defense lawyer and family members questioned the evidence. The SPC is reviewing Lin's death sentence.
Lin was accused of using N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a deadly chemical compound he took from the university lab, to contaminate a water dispenser in their dormitory. Huang drank from the dispenser on April 1, 2013 and died of organ failure on April 16.
