Guilty convictions of attempted murder, malicious wounding rendered on New Kent restaurateur

A man that was involved in an argument with his estranged wife has received guilty convictions from New Kent Circuit Court proceedings.

Shing Jie Jin, 41, formerly of the 2700 block of Patriot’s Landing Drive, Quinton, was found guilty on two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and two counts of attempted murder after the conclusion of a two-day contested trial Monday afternoon. One charge of felony destruction of property was dismissed. All charges stemmed from an incident last Jan. 20

Jin and his estranged wife, Yue Yung Zheng, married in 1993 according to Chinese custom before being recognized in 1997 after their relocation to the United States. In 2009, the couple successfully opened the Panda Garden restaurant located in the Quinton Shopping Center in New Kent. But according to testimony by Zheng, mistreatment by her husband and continuous attempts to obtain money led to a request for separation in December 2011.

“Most of our regular discussions were about money and if I really wanted a divorce from him,” testified Zheng through the assistance of an interpreter. “I didn’t want to be with someone like that and I tried to avoid those type of conversations with him.”

With the success of Panda Garden in New Kent, Jin decided to venture to northern Virginia and open a second restaurant there in 2012. After the failure of that restaurant in September 2014, Jin returned to New Kent to find his estranged wife had left to visit her ill mother in China. When Zheng returned, she was shocked to see her husband in the home they use to share, but avoided any contact with him until the Jan. 20 incident at the New Kent restaurant location.

“I went to the kitchen after hearing a noise to see what happened in there and I saw him,” said Zheng, pointing to Jin who was sitting at the defense table. “I moved to the front of the restaurant but he followed me.”

Zheng continued, saying how the conversation escalated in intensity from that point and became more of a confrontation.

“He asked for money and threatened me,” she said as testimony continued. “He said he wanted me to die and said he would make me miserable if we got a divorce.”

That conversation was overheard by Zheng’s sister-in-law Mei Fang Jiang, who was working that night and standing at an adjacent door that led to the kitchen.

“He walked in and pointed a finger right in her face,” said Jiang through an interpreter. “They walked to the kitchen and I could hear them yelling and talking about divorce. That’s when I heard my husband walk in and tell Jin to put down the knife.”

Jiang’s husband and Zheng’s brother, Xue Ying Gao, appeared distraught throughout testimony when speaking about the night of the incident.

“I returned from Food Lion around 9 p.m. and walked in through the back door and that’s when I heard the two yelling at the door of the kitchen,” Gao said through translated testimony. “I saw Jin holding a knife threatening my sister and saying he was going to kill her.”

Gao rose to his feet in the witness stand, pointing directly at Jin before being calmed by court bailiffs.

“He gave no reason for saying that and I walked over and told her that he couldn’t do that,” Gao continued, using body movements to demonstrate how the defendant held the knife. “I told my sister to go outside and call the police.”

Zheng made her way outside, but was followed by Jin and her brother. Zheng’s nervousness and being in fear of her life played into the sequence of following events.

“I walked to the mailboxes [in the parking lot on the eastside of Panda Garden] to see if I saw a police car that was normally parked at the church or the bank across the street,” Zheng said. “I was too scared to dial for help. That’s when I felt some auto vehicle accelerating to me and heard my brother yell.”

At that moment, Gao pulled his sister aside from an Acura SUV that was being driven by Jin and heading toward them. Gao’s efforts managed to pull Zheng to safety were successful, for the moment.

“I felt pain and nausea because I was hit with the side-view mirror of the truck,” Zheng continued. “My brother pulled me and told me to run to the back door.”

According to Zheng, the two ran toward the back of the building and the rear door. As they turned the corner, they spotted the back door open at Maria’s Italian Restaurant.

“I was two steps away when I heard the car and turned around and that was it,” said the estranged wife.

Testimony from Zheng and Gao indicated Jin drove the vehicle into them, hitting both and plowing through the back door of Maria’s Restaurant. Along with the dislodged door, several propane gas tanks that supplied the shopping complex were also knocked down. But the ordeal wasn’t over.

“I heard and felt a noise come from the kitchen,” testified Santos Antonio Flores, owner of Maria’s, through the assistance of a translator. “When I got back there I saw the Chinese lady laying down on the floor. On the other side, I saw the door was on the floor and I saw another guy laying on it.

“I also saw that a vehicle was stopped but running,” the owner continued. “I knew who the people were because we had formed a friendship because of our adjoining restaurants.”

At that time Flores said he witnessed a gentleman come in with a hammer in his hand.

“He tried to hit Luna [Zheng] in the head,” Flores continued. “I saw at least one strike with the hammer before I jumped on the defendant to take it away from him with other employees.”

Similar testimony came from both Zheng and Gao. According to Gao, an adrenaline rush pushed him through pain as he saw Jin strike his sister. Gao launched and tackled Jin before help joined in.

“I was struck maybe three, four times,” said Zheng. “I was able to see my brother hold Jin down before help arrived.”

That help came in the form of not only employees of Maria’s Restaurant, but Donald Horner, who ironically was shopping at Food Lion that night but also worked for Revere Gas, the company that supplies the shopping center.

“A young man came in and told the clerk and myself that we needed to get out of Food Lion because of a massive gas leak,” Horner testified. “I got in my service truck and drove to the back side and that’s when I saw the gas bottles on their side and a big vapor cloud consume the better back half of the building.”

“As I was telling people to get out, I saw a group of people around a person lying on the floor,” he continued. “The lady was bleeding bad from the leg, a gentleman laying on the door with restaurant employees laying on him, and another man laying at his feet.”

Horner assessed the scene, noticing a running vehicle that was essentially stuck due to striking the rear of the building. Horner advised people to leave the scene and make a call for help. That call was made by Jiang.

“I saw Donald Horner very worked up when I arrived,” said Sgt. Brandon Jenkins of the New Kent’s Sheriff’s Office. “There were several people in the kitchen, two laying on the door and one subject on the left bleeding.”

Jenkins testimony continued, focusing on the exterior damage to the vehicle and the large amount of cash found on Jin. Meanwhile, emergency medical responders arrived, transporting Zheng and Gao to a hospital.

Dr. Rahul Anand spoke about the injuries sustained by the two victims.

“Ms. Zheng’s injuries consisted of left hip bruises and several fractures to the left leg,” he said, specifically commenting on how the bone was exposed outside the skin. “There was also several muscles that were exposed.

“Mr. Gao had a left wrist fracture, a laceration of the liver, and a severe case of road rash,” the surgeon continued. “Both of their injuries were serious and life-threatening.”

The ordeal has also left Zheng traumatized according to her comments.

“It was horrifying. I have nightmares all the time,” she said.

Defense attorney Todd Duval challenged Zheng’s testimony, focusing on her desire for a divorce and if infidelity played a role in her wanting one. Duval showed a photo to Zheng. In that photo, she was wearing a wedding dress and standing with another man.

“That picture was taken in 2012,” Duval said. “Who is the man in the picture?”

“I don’t know,” responded Zheng. “It was done in fun.”

“So you’re telling me that you don’t know who this guy is that you were in the picture with?” asked the defense attorney.

“No I don’t. I don’t even remember his name,” said Zheng.

Duval questioned Zheng on her estranged husband’s attempt to start another business in northern Virginia. Zheng denied any knowledge of it. She also denied allowing her husband to stay in the same home with her when he returned in 2014.

“He was there when I got back from China and I just simply avoided him,” Zheng said. “He would always ask for money and if I wanted a divorce.”

Duval presented divorce papers to the court, saying that Zheng attempted to file for a divorce through Nevada with the services of a New York lawyer. That divorce, however, was substantially put on hold because the papers were filed through a jurisdiction that required the couple to live there for at least six weeks.

“You thought your divorce was official but yet you’re still talking about getting one?” said Duval, pointing to the year the papers were signed.

“I didn’t know what the lawyer was doing,” responded Zheng. “I just thought he was getting papers.”

Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory rebutted Duval’s tactics with a question specifically focusing on the documents.

“Can you read English well?” Gregory questioned Zheng.

“No I can’t,” she responded.

“I like to make a note that these documents were written and printed in English and that she probably didn’t understand what she was signing,” the prosecutor concluded, pointing to testimony from Zheng that she spent a couple of thousand dollars on the lawyer’s services.

With the commonwealth resting, Duval made a motion to strike, emphasizing that Jin was in the “heat of passion” according to law.

“Usually words alone can’t be provocation, but in this case, they were a cause for this case to be one that has ‘heat of passion’,” argued Duval, saying that his client was not in the right state of mind. “Ms. Zheng cursed his family to die, and that means more to the Chinese culture than it does here [in the United States].

“My client said over and over again in the interviews with the detectives that his mind was blank,” the defense attorney concluded.

“You have to look at the totality of the circumstances,” countered Gregory. “The defendant has known that his wife wanted a divorce, even to the fact that he retained a lawyer and this was more than a year ago.

“This was a buildup of animosity because the wife was no longer interested in being married to him because she had been threatened by him,” the commonwealth’s attorney concluded.

The motion to strike the two charges of aggravated malicious wounding and attempted murder were denied by Judge B. Elliott Bondurant. However, the judge dismissed the charge of felony destruction of property after no ownership of the property was presented.

Jin elected not to testify in his defense. Duval, however, presented his defendant’s viewpoint of what occurred that night.

“My defendant went to the restaurant to get something to eat and was confronted by an angry wife,” said Duval. “He was confronted because his wife wanted a divorce and he had evidence of adultery.

“He leaves the restaurant and his wife follows,” continued the defense attorney. “His wife blocks the path while he was leaving and after that, he flies into an absolute rage that led to the sequence of what occurred and that’s why I still firmly believe this is a crime dealing with the ‘heat of passion.’”

After taking five minutes to review the evidence presented at trial, Bondurant issued a ruling on the case.

“This was a very difficult case not only because of the facts but because of the number of different interpretations,” the judge said. “But reviewing the evidence and taking into account all that was presented, I find that Mr. Jin is guilty of two charges of aggravated malicious wounding and two charges of attempted murder.”

Playing into part of Bondurant’s ruling was his response to Duval’s motion to strike.

“Mr. Zheng had an opportunity to leave after the confrontation with his wife. But when he exits the restaurant he gets into his car. Instead of driving around Ms. Zheng, he drives straight towards her.

“After Mr. Gao pulls his sister and runs towards the back, Mr. Jin circles around in his vehicle and then ends up hitting her and Mr. Gao,” Bondurant continued. “I view those as separate incidents in this case.”

Formal sentencing for Jin is set for Feb. 8, 2016. Under the aggravated malicious wounding charges, he faces a minimum sentence of five years on each charge, with the maximum being a life sentence. Jin will face a sentence range of 2-10 years on each of the attempted murder charges. He will face a minimum of at least 14 years in prison.