A former client was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 2022 fatal stabbing of Great Neck immigration lawyer Jim Li who had removed her as a client days before she killed him, according to the Queen’s District Attorney’s Office.
Queens’ Xiaoning Zhang, 27, was given the maximum sentence for her crimes.
“It is our hope that with this sentencing, the family, loved ones and legal community can find some solace in knowing the defendant has been held accountable for her crimes,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
Li, who was 66 at the time of his death, was a known activist during the Tiananmen Square uprising in China in 1989 and was regarded for his work as an immigration lawyer representing political asylum seekers.
Li was born Sept. 7, 1955, in Wuhan. He reportedly served in the Chinese Army at 15 years old before majoring in constitutional law at Beijing University.
As a doctoral student in 1989, Li served as a legal adviser to the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation, an organization promoting students seeking democratic freedom.
He also spent nearly two years in prison for his role in the Tiananmen Square protest movement.
Li was representing Zhang pro bono but dropped her as a client on March 11, 2022 when she admitted to him that she lied on her application that she was raped by Beijing police, the DA said.
She had also asked Li to remove a photo of her protesting in front of the United Nations building from the internet, but the DA’s office said Li denied this request which angered Zhang.
Police responded to Li’s law office in Flushing, Queens that day due to a disturbance where Zhang was reported to have been choking Li. Police then escorted her out of the office.
Katz said just three days later, Zhang “violently and viciously” stabbed Li in the chest and neck with a pairing knife and a large kitchen knife she had brought to his office. An employee in the office restrained Zhang until police arrived.
Li was pronounced dead at a hospital after.
Zhang was found guilty last month of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and harassment.
