Recently, Xu Ying and Zhang Kai handled a death penalty review case of the Supreme People's Court for the offence of drug trafficking, and the Supreme People's Court adopted the lawyers‘ opinion, quashed the original sentence, and commuted the defendant's death sentence to a suspended sentence of two years’ execution.

Meticulous preparation, comprehensive review: in the process of undertaking the case, Xu Ying team of lawyers carefully analysed the case file, formed a 48-page reading transcript, from the procedural issues, to the facts and evidence analysis, from the issue of conviction to the circumstances of sentencing, carried out a comprehensive review.

Eat through the provisions of the Minutes, the defence focused on: dealing with drug crimes, the content of several Minutes must be eaten through, June 2023 Kunming Minutes of the meeting was introduced, the content of the Dalian Minutes of the meeting and Wuhan Minutes of the meeting has been revised and improved, Dalian, Wuhan, the two Minutes are no longer applicable. The Kunming Minutes stipulate that the death penalty may be imposed on a superior who is in possession of drugs for sale or who, having mastered the source of the drugs, takes the initiative to liaise with the seller of the drugs and actively facilitates the drug transaction. If the subordinate family actively raises funds and takes the initiative to purchase drugs from the superior family, which plays a greater role in facilitating the drug transaction, the subordinate family may be considered for the death penalty. Based on this provision, the defence argued that the defendant in this case was the drug supplier, not the initiator or preparer of the drug transaction, and that the death penalty could not be applied.

Communicating with the judge and acting as a bridge between the judge and the defendant: after submitting the defence opinion, the defence contacted the contractor judge several more times to exchange views. In the discovery of important issues, again apply for a meeting, timely communication with the defendant.

Faith in the law and reverence for life: throughout the handling of the case, the defence deeply felt that all those involved in the case, lawyers, judges and staff, each of them had a deep faith in the law and reverence for life. In the end, the Supreme People's Court adopted the views of the defence, reversed the original verdict and directly changed the sentence!