Xie murder trial
1.
- May 2011 – Robert Xie charged with the murder of five members of his extended family.
- September 2013 – first trial scheduled to begin.
- 17 March 2014 – first trial actually begins. The trial was later aborted because of the emergence of new evidence.
- February 2015 – third trial began.
- 1 December 2015 – the jury announced it was unable to reach a verdict. Even though the judge said that a majority verdict would be permitted, the jury was still hung and was discharged.
- 8 December 2015 – Xie was granted bail after having been refused bail numerous times. At this stage, Xie had spent 1681 days in jail without a conviction.
- 29 June 2016 – the fourth trial started.
- January 2017 – Xie was found guilty.
2. Students might identify:
- the delay between Xie being charged and the scheduling of the first trial/ when the trial actually began was extremely long.
- the delay between the scheduling of the first trial and when it actually began was very long – considering that the court was awaiting DNA testing.
- the third trial began in February and finished in December – a lengthy trial, but less than 12 months.
3. Responses will vary. Students might justify the delay between scheduling the first trial and when it actually began due to possibly waiting for DNA testing. The time between the first trial being aborted and the third trial beginning might be justified due to the unforeseeable poor health of the judge. Ultimately, the delay between Xie being charged and the first trial actually beginning (almost three years)may suggest that there are flaws in the system.