Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced that a Monroe Township woman’s 2013 murder conviction was affirmed today by the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
According to authorities, Tianle Li, 48, of Monroe Township was convicted on July 9, 2013, by a jury sitting in New Brunswick of the murder of her husband, Xiaoye Wang, a 39-year-old computer software engineer and for hindering her apprehension and prosecution by attempting to flee the country.
Officials said she appealed her conviction for first-degree murder and third-degree hindering apprehension in connection to the thallium poisoning of her husband.
Authorities, however, sentenced Li on September 20, 2013, to life in prison. The judge ordered that the defendant must serve at least 62 years and six months, which represents 85 percent of the term before she can be eligible for parole.
The judge also imposed a five-year term for the hindering count but said it would be served concurrently to the life term.
During the six-week trial, Middlesex County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Christie L. Bevacqua and Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Allysa B. Gambarella presented evidence and testimony showing Li administered poison to her husband in Monroe. The prosecution further revealed that following the death of Mr. Wang, Li attempted to flee the country.
Authrooitities say they further proved that Li, who had been employed for ten years as a chemist at Bristol-Myers Squibb, obtained the thallium, a highly-toxic metal, and administered a portion of the substance to her husband between November 16, 2010, and January 26, 2011.
After becoming ill with apparent flu-like symptoms, Mr. Wang admitted himself to the University Medical Center at Princeton on January 14, 2011 for treatment. A series of tests determined that he had been poisoned with thallium. Mr. Wang died at the hospital the following day.