Montgomery County Circuit Court today accepted the guilty plea of former Virginia Tech graduate student Haiyang Zhu, who was charged with the first-degree murder of fellow graduate student Xin Yang.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 19, 2010. Zhu could face life in prison.
Today's hearing included grisly details of the Jan. 21, 2009 murder. Yang, 22, was decapitated at the Au Bon Pain cafe in the Graduate Life Center on Tech's campus. Commonwealth Attorney Brad Finch provided the court a broad outline of the case against Zhu, including autopsy reports that showed the victim with multiple defensive injuries to her arms and hands, as well as the fatal "incised wounds of the neck."
Finch also introduced two letters written by Zhu in which he professed his love for Yang. The first, written to Yang in January, said he had "fallen deeply in love" with her and said that she left him "happy and fulfilled." Zhu wrote in the letter that he "will treasure her forever" and then asked Yang to be his girlfriend, according to Finch.
The second letter, written from jail following Zhu's arrest, was titled "A Will" and outlined his reasons for the murder. Finch, summarizing the letter, told the court, "He didn't have any other choice but to kill her because he loved her so much." Finch said Zhu wrote that Yang "broke his heart" when she said she had a boyfriend whom she had planned to marry.
Zhu's attorney Stephanie Cox twice interrupted Finch's description of the letters, but Montgomery County Circuit Judge Bobby Turk allowed the presentation of the evidence to continue.
In an attempt to prove premeditation, Finch said Zhu brought several knives and a hammer to the cafe on the night of the murder, and he said prosecutors had a receipt and video evidence that the weapons were bought that same day. Finch also said that phone records indicated Zhu tried to call Yang 12 times on the morning before he killed her.
Zhu, 26, was clean-shaven and alert throughout the hearing, often nodding to his interpreter as she translated Finch's evidence regarding the murder. He spoke little during the hearing. When asked by Turk for his plea, Zhu responded, "Your honor, I plead guilty."
Turk then asked Zhu a litany of questions to ensure the validity of the plea. When asked whether he had entered into an agreement with the state regarding his sentencing, Zhu said he had not.