The High Court on Thursday overturned a capital conviction and sentenced a man to life in prison for fatally stabbing a convenience store clerk who had asked him to wear a mask.
At about 4am on Nov. 21, 2021, Chiang Chia-kai (蔣嘉凱), a paper sculpture artist, walked into a convenience store in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山) and was told by the clerk, surnamed Tsai (蔡), that he had to put on a mask, court records show.
Chiang reluctantly left the store, but soon returned wearing a mask. He became involved in an altercation with the 30-year-old Tsai, threw his mask at the clerk and left. He returned a second time dressed in different clothing, called Tsai, who was in a backroom, to come out and stabbed him with a knife.
Photo: Chen En-hui, Taipei Times
Although Tsai was able to disarm Chiang during the ensuing scuffle, he collapsed outside the store due to excessive bleeding.
He later died of hypovolemic shock as a result of being stabbed 13 times, including three times in the heart.
During the first trial at the Taoyuan District Court, Chiang was sentenced to death on the grounds that the murder was premeditated — as he had changed his clothes to disguise his identity — and that he did not have a mental illness.
Because the court issued a death sentence, the case was automatically sent for appeal to the High Court, in accordance with Article 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法).
In its verdict on Thursday, the High Court said that Chiang was in the habit of taking and randomly mixing sedatives, sleep aids and prescribed anti-anxiety medications, including on the day of the murder.
An analysis by Taipei City Hospital’s Songde branch said that the drugs Chiang had taken likely played some role in his violent, antisocial behavior, as well as his lack of self-control, the court said.
In reducing the sentence to life in prison, the court said it had attempted to balance its conclusion that Chiang’s actions were partially related to his drug abuse and that he could be rehabilitated with the “malevolent” nature of his crime and the harm he had done.
The ruling can be appealed.
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