Press Release
QUEENS WOMAN CONVICTED OF MURDER IN STABBING DEATH OF IMMIGRATION LAWYER – OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY QUEENS COUNTY
September 20, 2024

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Xiaoning Zhang, 27, has been convicted of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and charges for the killing of her immigration lawyer, Jim Li, who had dropped her as a client shortly before the incident.

District Attorney Katz said, “After meeting with Xiaoning Zhang, he agreed to represent her pro bono in her immigration matters. When the defendant’s demands and lies about her circumstances became apparent, Li told Zhang he could no longer represent her. The defendant, filled with anger and animus, went to Li’s law practice several days later armed with two knives and repeatedly stabbed him. A jury weighed the trial evidence, and after careful consideration, found this defendant guilty of this senseless murder. We extend our condolences to Mr. Li’s many family members and friends, both in the legal community and around the world.”

Zhang, of Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, Queens, was found guilty today 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. Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder, who presided at trial, scheduled sentencing for October 2, 2024, at which time Zhang faces up to 25-years -to-life in prison.

Trial openings began on September 9, 2024, and closings occurred on September 19, 2024. The jury deliberated for one day.

According to the trial records, on March 11, 2022, police were called to the law office of Mr. Jim Li in Flushing regarding a disturbance. Zhang was insistent that Li, who was handling her asylum request pro bono, also work to have a photo of the defendant at a United Nations protest removed from the internet. Li told her he could not do that, which enraged the defendant. Zhang then admitted to Li that she had lied on her asylum application about being raped by Beijing police in China. Li then told Zhang he would no longer represent her in the immigration matter.

The defendant was asked to leave, but Zhang refused, according to trial testimony, and instead reacted by grabbing Li by the neck and choking him. Responding police escorted the defendant out of the building and reiterated that she was not to return.

Three days later, on March 14, 2022, according to trial records, the defendant went back to Li’s law office in Flushing. The defendant was armed with a paring knife and a larger kitchen knife. She confronted the victim again and this time repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest and neck. A member of Li’s staff held Zhang until police arrived and placed the defendant under arrest.

The 66-year-old immigration lawyer was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Samantha Tighe, of the Felony Trials Bureau III, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Karen Ross, Cold Case Unit Chief and Homicide Bureau Deputy Chief, and John Kosinski, Homicide Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.

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Jury selection begins in case of murdered Queens lawyer
September 05, 2024

Jury selection began this week in the trial of a woman accused of killing a Queens immigration lawyer and pro-democracy advocate whose death shook the borough’s legal community.

Prosecutors with the Queens district attorney’s office and attorneys for Xiaoning Zhang began selecting the jurors who would decide Zhang’s fate on Wednesday.

Zhang’s trial before Queens Supreme Court, Criminal Term Acting Administrative Judge Kenneth Holder is expected to begin in the coming days.

Zhang, 27, allegedly killed attorney Jim Li in his Flushing law office in March 2022.

According to prosecutors, Zhang, a former pro bono client of Li’s, became enraged once the attorney stopped working on her case. That’s when she allegedly returned to his office the following week with a number of knives and repeatedly stabbed Li once they were alone.

According to reporting by the New York Times, lawyers and friends of Li who witnessed the attack said Zhang was emotionally disturbed and that she had physically attacked the 66-year-old attorney a week before his death.

Zhang, a Chinese national, was reportedly in the U.S. on an F-1 student visa preparing to go to school in California. In 2022, the Daily News reported that Zhang sought out Li seeking legal help to apply for asylum.

For whatever reason, Li, a well-known immigration lawyer in Queens, refused the case.

Li, born Li Jinjin, opened his law practice in New York in 1998 shortly after arriving in the U.S. as an asylum seeker.

Once he began his practice in Queens, Li primarily focused on immigration law, serving a number of Chinese immigrants in their efforts to live in the U.S., many of whom came over to the country as students.

Outside of his law practice, Li continued the pro-democracy advocacy he did in China, in his new home.

Li was a co-founding member and the second chairman of the Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation in Flushing.

The Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit organization named after former Chinese Communist Party officials and reform advocates who were pushed from power. Memorial Foundation members were open critics of the Chinese government and advocated for Chinese economic reform since its founding in 2005.

The foundation took a major hit in 2022, and not only because of the death of one of its co-founders.

Shortly after Li’s death, another one of the group’s founders, Shujun Wang, was arrested on charges that he spied for the Chinese government.

Wang, a Chinese professor, was convicted in August of this year for conspiracy and acting as an agent for a foreign government without notifying the attorney general, charges he vehemently denied throughout his trial.

Prosecutors alleged Wang used his position within the Memorial Foundation and influence in the Chinese community to report on dissenters of the People’s Republic of China and to its Ministry of State Security. Dissenters included Hong Kong democracy protesters, Taiwanese independence advocates, as well as Uyghur and Tibetan activists.

Li was killed just two days before Wang was arrested in 2022.

Despite the proximity of the two events, no connection between Li’s death, his work with the Memorial Foundation, or Wang’s conviction have been alleged by the Queens district attorney’s office or by federal prosecutors, who were behind Wang’s prosecution.

Li’s death disturbed members of Queens’ legal community, who had seen another one of their colleagues – 65-year-old Charles Zolot – also stabbed to death by a former client less than a year earlier.

Speaking with the Eagle in 2022 after Li’s death, then-Queens County Bar Association President Frank Bruno said that he was “stunned” to hear of Li’s killing.

“We grieve for Mr. Li and keep his family and friends in our thoughts,” Bruno said at the time. “The Queens County Bar Association stands for all lawyers in our community to provide support where needed and to take a leading role when possible.”

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李进进让警察别抓她张晓宁：我会拿我的命换你的命
2024-09-17

李进进遇害案的陪审团庭审进入了关键阶段，16日多位证人出庭，其中李进进律师事务所员工Chris详细还原了2022年3月11日和14日发生的关键事件；同时，警探讯问张晓宁的影片也在法庭上公开，该影片记录了她对自己行为的反应以及她在事件发生后的陈述。此案的其他证人还包括警探和法医，提供关于案件调查和李进进死因的关键细节。

Chris的证词：详细还原命案经过

根据Chris的证词，3月11日当天下午，事务所内爆发了一场激烈的争吵。当时，Chris听到从李进进办公室传来大声的争论声，随即进入办公室，看到张晓宁与李进进在争论。张晓宁当时情绪激动，承认她在政治庇护申请中虚构了自己的故事，并要求李进进继续代理她的案子。但李进进表示，他无法再继续为她代理案件，并告诉她将撤回其政治庇护申请。

根据Chris的回忆，张晓宁以双手掐住李进进脖子说，「我会拿我的命换你的命。」Chris见状立刻将办公室内的尖锐物品，包括钉书机和打孔机移开，以防止张晓宁做出进一步的攻击。报警后，李进进要求警察让张晓宁离开，并要求她不再返回，Chris说，李进进要求警察不要逮捕张晓宁，是要避免她因刑事记录影响政治庇护申请。

然而，情势在3月14日急转直下。当天上午10时左右，Chris在该大楼内见到张晓宁，并提醒李进进要小心，随后在11时48分，Chris就听到李办内传来的尖叫声，Chris表示，当他进入办公室时，张晓宁正站在李进进的椅子后面，左手环绕李进进的脖子，右手握着一把带血的刀，刀尖指向Chris。当时，李进进虚弱地用国语说：「她割破了我的血管。」

Chris随即用双手扭住张晓宁握刀的右手，成功夺下刀并将其交给事务所秘书Joyce。随后，Chris将张晓宁推到办公室门口并试图控制她，直至警方到达现场。据Chris回忆，他压制住张晓宁时对着她说，「李进进如此善良、慷慨，免费为你代理案件，而你却杀了他。」

犯案当天讯问影片曝光

庭审的另一个焦点是警方在逮捕张晓宁后进行的讯问影片。根据出庭供证的警探描述，张晓宁在被逮捕后，被带往警局接受了长达数小时的讯问。负责翻译的警官则表示，张晓宁在整个讯问过程中表现出对问题的充分理解，并能够清楚地回答问题。

在影片中，警探先是对张晓宁的基本资料询问，并告知她「你有权保持沉默，但你所说的一切都将成为呈堂证供」，张晓宁听完却说，「我想先联系中国大使馆」，警探告知她需要先针对今天发生的事进行了解，张晓宁遂在翻译警官的帮助之下表示，她自己3月11日来到律师事务所，要求李进进不要撤回她的案件，并且开始求他帮忙。

张晓宁在影片中表示，李进进说她有精神病，是个麻烦(problem)。警探接续询问之后发生什么事情了，张晓宁并未正面回覆警探问题，仅用国语说，「我当时很那种感觉」、「当他躺在我身上时，我抱着他，跟他说我完了，因为我快死掉了，活不下去了。」

在讯问过程中，警探试图询问张晓宁当时确切发生了什么事，仅见张晓宁低头沉默约莫10秒钟，并回答说，「不知道，我感觉我现在很正常。」警探又问及张晓宁手上的血是怎么来的，张则回说，「不知道，我的身上一直有血。」

警探又问，当下李进进是否有跟她说什么话，张晓宁说，「听不清，因为一直有人在尖叫，然后他的员工跑来捏着我的手，说我恩将仇报」，张晓宁表示，当她双手遭Chris抓住时，并没有东西在她手上。

由于张晓宁始终不肯透露当天实际发生什么事，警探则转变讯问方向，当张晓宁被问及当天包内带了什么东西，张回答，包内的随身物品后说，「因担心共产分子会派人暗杀我，所以我以前包包内都会有刀、棍和酒精喷雾等防身用品，但不记得今天有没有带刀子。」

张晓宁并未直接承认自己故意杀害李进进，但她提到，当时她感觉自己「别无选择」，因为「没有人帮助她」。影片播放后，翻译警官进一步解释了张晓宁在讯问过程中的情绪状态。他表示，尽管张晓宁谈到案件时显得冷静，但她在谈到自己感到孤立无援时，情绪变得低落。

法医供证：李进进的致命伤口

负责执行李进进尸体检验的法医则在庭上详细描述了李进进的伤势，这些伤口是检方指控张晓宁的核心证据之一。根据法医的检验结果，李进进的死亡原因是失血过多，特别是颈部的刺伤切断了供应大脑的内颈动脉，导致迅速失血，最终导致死亡。

法医还指出，李进进身上共有四处刺伤，分别位于颈部、胸部和腹部。此外，他的手指上有防御性伤口，这表明他在遇袭时曾试图抵抗。这些证据支持了Chris的供证，表明李进进在袭击发生时曾试图保护自己。