What to Know
- A 27-year-old Queens woman could spend life in prison after she was sentenced for fatally stabbing a well-known immigration lawyer who dropped her as a client back in 2022.
- Xiaoning Zhang, of Flushing, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Wednesday, the Queens District Attorney's Office announced.
- Jim Li was well-known for his legal work and activism during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising in China.
A 27-year-old Queens woman could spend life in prison after she was sentenced for fatally stabbing a well-known immigration lawyer who dropped her as a client back in 2022.
Xiaoning Zhang, of Flushing, was found guilty by a jury last month of murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, menacing in the third degree, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and harassment in the second degree. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Wednesday, the Queens District Attorney's Office announced.
According to testimony presented at trial, on March 11, 2022, police responded to Jim Li’s Flushing law office for a disturbance. Testimony suggested that Zhang demanded that Li, who was handling her asylum request, also work to remove from the internet a picture of her at a protest in front of the United Nationst. Zhang became enraged after Li told her he could not do that.
Li was well-known for his legal work and activism during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising in China.
The district attorney's office, citing the testimony, also said that Zhang told Li that she had lied on her asylum application about being raped by Beijing police in China. It was after this that the attorney told Zhang that he would not be able to represent her any longer in immigration matters and told her to leave his office, which she refused, subsequently placing her hands around his neck and choking him. That is when police were called and Zhang was escorted out of the building.
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The testimony went on to say that three days later, Zhang was back at Li’s law office -- armed with a paring knife and a larger kitchen knife, stabbing him in the chest and neck. An office worker restrained Zhang until police arrived.
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Li was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Jim Li was an activist in China and became a well-regarded immigration attorney here in the United States, where he represented those seeking political asylum," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. "Li agreed to represent defendant Xiaoning Zhang pro bono in her case, until she admitted to lying on her application and he subsequently dropped her as a client. Zhang could not accept this and days after being told never to return to the law office, she came back armed with two kitchen knives. She violently and viciously stabbed Li, killing him.”
