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ALHAMBRA (CNS) - A prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that a man planned the bludgeoning deaths of his then-estranged wife's two teenage nephews in their Arcadia home in an act of revenge against her family and bought a one-way plane ticket to Hong Kong, while a defense attorney argued that her client was suffering from delusions and did not premeditate or deliberate the attack.
Jurors were handed the case late Tuesday against Deyun Shi, 52, who is charged with the Jan. 22, 2016, slayings of 15-year-old Anthony Lin, who was asleep when he was attacked with bolt cutters, and the teen's 16-year-old brother, William, who was killed while studying in a separate room.
The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders.
Shi is also charged with one count of corporal injury for allegedly attacking his then-wife in La Cañada Flintridge with a wood-splitting tool the night before the killings.
The teens' father had been at the hospital with Shi's wife after the attack that left her with a broken nose and an injury to her head, Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri told the Alhambra jury.
"This was an act of revenge," the prosecutor told jurors, saying that Shi "put the need for retribution" for his family being taken away from him ahead of the lives of two innocent children.
Shi's estranged wife had sought a temporary restraining order against him and he had recently learned she had filed for divorce from Shi, who had been "abusive and controlling" with his wife for over a decade before she found strength in her family's support after moving from China to the United States, according to the prosecutor.
The deputy district attorney said "every act along the way" suggests that Shi was "in his right mind" and "knows what he's doing is wrong."
Teymouri showed jurors surveillance video that she said shows there was "absolutely nothing unusual about the defendant" while he was at Los Angeles International Airport, and said his one-way flight to Hong Kong was consistent with his plan to flee to nearby China to avoid punishment
Shi was arrested after arriving at the airport in Hong Kong and was sent back to the United States to stand trial.
One of Shi's attorneys, Vicki Podberesky, called it a "tragic, tragic case" in which the two teenage boys were "brutally bludgeoned," but said the issue jurors have to decide is whether her client had the mental capacity to deliberate and premeditate the killings.
The defense lawyer said Shi had a history of mental issues documented in hospital records from China dating back to when he was 15 years old.
The evidence supports a finding of "psychosis" stemming from schizoaffective disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Podberesky.
Shi's attorney cited "inexplicable acts of rage" by Shi in the months leading up to the killings, and told jurors that his actions were "so unprecedented" that his wife sought a restraining order against him.
"This is not a controlling man ... This is a man who is deteriorating," Podberesky said.
The defense attorney told jurors that Shi had delusions that the victims' father was monitoring him with strange equipment.
"These are not beliefs based in reality. They are delusions," she said.
Shi's lawyer said it was a "real fallacy to believe that somebody who's experiencing a deterioration of mental health can't do things" such as drive a car.
Podberesky noted that there was no evidence that Shi had ever demonstrated any animosity against the teens.
She contended that the prosecution has not met its burden to prove that the killings were done with premeditation and deliberation in arguing against first-degree murder.
In her rebuttal argument, the prosecutor countered that it was "never about the nephews," but instead about getting "the ultimate revenge" against the boys' father.
The deputy district attorney said what matters is whether the defendant was able to premeditate and deliberate at the time of the crimes, saying he was "deliberate in every one of his actions."
The prosecutor contended that Shi was "not in an active state of psychosis" when he committed the attacks.
"Find him fully responsible for his actions on that day," Teymouri told jurors.
Shi could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if jurors convict him and find that he was sane at the time of the crimes.