Former New Kent restaurateur sentenced to 34 years in prison for Jan. 2015 attack

After spending an hour listening to Feb. 8 arguments on sentencing in New Kent Circuit Court, a former restaurateur learned that he would spend the next 34 years in prison.

Shing Jie Jin, 41, formerly of 2700 of Patriot’s Landing, received formal sentencing on two charges each of attempted murder and aggravated malicious wounding stemming from a Jan. 20, 2015 incident.

During a two-day trial last November, testimony revealed that Jin and his estranged wife, Yue Yung Zheng, got into a verbal confrontation inside the Panda Garden restaurant located in the Quinton Shopping Center in western New Kent. During that argument, Zheng walked out of the back door, followed by Jin and then Xue Ying Gao, Zheng’s brother. Gao told his sister to call the police and that’s when things took a turn for the worse.

Jin, now behind the wheel of an Acura SUV, attempted to strike Zheng. Gao was able to pull his sister away in time to avoid contact. Both Gao and Zheng fled to the rear of the building in an attempt to escape Jin. As the brother and sister tried to enter an open door at the back of adjacent Maria’s Italian Restaurant, Jin struck the two with the vehicle. The collision also resulted in the rear door of Maria’s dislodging as well as several propane gas tanks being knocked over.

But the assault continued according to trial testimony. Jin removed a hammer from the vehicle and proceeded to his wife. Jin struck his wife with the hammer at least once before employees of Maria’s latched onto him, preventing any further injury and damage. Gao and Zheng were taken to a local hospital while Jin was placed in custody.

During testimony, Jin’s sister, Yi Jin, spoke about the importance of marriage in Chinese culture and her brother’s importance to the family name.

“We do not approve of divorce in our culture,” she said. “It would bring shame to our family and all the good things we’ve done. Our family has helped build schools, roads, and mosques in our village and my brother planned on doing the same.”

Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory argued in favor of a life sentence for the defendant to serve.

“As you can read by the victims’ impact statements, they have been emotionally and physically affected by this ordeal,” Gregory said as he addressed the court. “Certainly there was tension between the two, but that is no excuse for what he did.

“We’re fortunate not to be talking about him killing two people or causing an explosion.

“I understand he comes from a different culture but he’s been living here for 21 years,” the Commonwealth’s Attorney continued. “He chose to remain in this culture and refused to move forward. Regardless, that does not justify him trying to run down a person with a car. After that, he gets out the car to get a hammer to hit his wife.

“The bottom line is that he (Jin) caused emotional, physical, and permanent injury to his wife,” Gregory added. “He caused injury to his wife and brother-in-law that will affect them the rest of their lives and that’s what I recommend. The max punishment is life and that’s what I believe he deserves.”

Defense attorney Todd Duval countered Gregory’s claims, saying actions by Zheng were a façade of her true persona.

“The victim impact statement is melodramatic,” Duval said, referencing Zheng’s testimony and photos from trial proceedings. “She came into the courtroom on crutches but a photo less than a month prior showed her standing. She also claimed a wedding picture with another man was taken for fun, along with forging Jin’s signature on documents.

“While they don’t have an impact on Mr. Jin’s sentencing, they do have a significance on the impact statement,” the defense attorney continued. “It has an impact on him and his culture. Jin is a very good name in that town.

“The marriage was arranged and Mr. Jin tried to stop it,” Duval continued, arguing that his client knew the marriage would fail after Zheng said she didn’t love him prior to the union. “Zheng belittled him and emasculated him, but yet he stayed, raised a family and continued his restaurant in order to support his wife and children.

“Nothing was planned that night and Jin believed in in marriage,” Duval commented as he wrapped up his argument. “This was a man who bent so far that he broke and it took two years for that to happen. Jin has no chance of reoffend and I highly recommend the court sentence him to the recommended guidelines [a range of nine years, eight months to 21 years, six months with a midpoint of 17 years, 11 months].”

Gregory rebutted, pointing to statistics and history of the rocky relationship.

“Jin knew his wife wanted a divorce and his family supported him,” the prosecution said. “Fifty percent of marriages in America end in divorce. I’m just happy that they don’t end up in this courtroom in this type of situation.”

Prior to sentencing, Jin elected to explain his viewpoint of the marriage and the downward spiral.

“The marriage began to fail because of my wife’s computer usage,” Jin said through an interpreter. “I would come home at night and she’d be on the computer chatting with male people and typing coded messages.

“When I confronted her about it, she asked for a divorce,” the defendant continued. “That is when I decided to buy another house and move away. I asked for money for the restaurant because simply put, I needed a head start and she controlled all the finances.”

After hearing both sides’ viewpoints, Judge B. Elliott Bondurant rendered his judgment on sentencing after considering the impact statement, two psychological evaluation reports, the pre-sentence report, and evidence from the trial.

“What is concerning to me is the number of times Mr. Jin had an opportunity to walk away,” Bondurant said. “He was in a vehicle and he could have driven away.

“According to testimony, he struck his wife with a vehicle but then he drove around the back of the building and then struck his wife and brother-in-law,” the judge continued. “And what concerns me the most is that in one of the psychological reports, he said the victims did these things to themselves. He has shown no remorse in his actions.

“According to the report it says it was all of their [Zheng and Gao] fault and not his,” Bondurant continued as he mulled over the report. “I understand that he is from a different culture but I wonder whatever culture that you live in and what [type of] affect these charges have on his family.”

On each of the aggravated malicious wounding charges, Jin received 60-year sentences with 45 years suspended (an active term of 30 years to serve.) He received two-year mandatory minimum sentences on each attempted murder charge (four total) with the remaining 16 years suspended. He must also pay restitution in the amount of $199,355 to cover medical expenses of Zheng and Gao.

Duval commented at the conclusion of the trial that his client is planning to appeal.