Judge Keeps Pan’s Bond At $20M

A state judge kept Qinxuan Pan’s bond at $20 million after ruling that Kevin Jiang’s alleged murderer is ​“an acute risk of flight and also a danger to the public, and possibly himself.”

State Superior Court Judge Gerald Harmon issued that decision Wednesday afternoon in his sixth-floor courtroom at the state courthouse at 235 Church St.

His decision came at the end of a roughly half-hour hearing in which Pan and his defense attorney, William Gerace, appealed to the judge to reduce the 30-year-old MIT artificial intelligence researcher’s bond from $20 million to $2 million.

The state has charged Pan with shooting and killing Jiang, a 26-year-old Yale grad student, near Jiang’s fiancee’s apartment on Lawrence Street in East Rock on Feb. 6. The U.S. Marshals arrested Pan on May 13 in Montgomery, Ala. after a three-month, nationwide manhunt. He is currently being detained at Cheshire Correctional Institution.

Harmon reviewed the details of the state’s case against Pan as laid out in a series of arrest warrant affidavits filed by the New Haven Police Department when explaining his decision to keep the bond at the same amount set by State Judge Brian Fischer at Pan’s arraignment.

He said that state appears to have ​“a strong case” against Pan based on camera evidence, the collection of firearm projectiles and ammunition, and DNA evidence tying Pan to the alleged murder.

Since Pan managed to evade law enforcement for three months — and, in that time, acquire transportation, afford lodging and food, and have more than $19,000 in cash, multiple cellphones, and his father’s passport on his person when finally taken into custody in Alabama in May — he remains very much a flight risk, Harmon said.

“The court feels that the bond that was set by Judge Fischer in the amount of $20 million is appropriate to determine the safety of the community, the safety to himself, and also his appearance in court,” Harmon said about Pan.

Harmon also noted that Pan is not allowed to be released from detention by posting 10 percent of his bond in cash, because that 10 percent cash option is reserved for defendants with bonds no larger than $20,000.

Pan’s next date in court in the murder case is slated for Sept. 21. Gerace said he plans on appealing Harmon’s bond decision to the state Supreme Court.

“It’s A Muddled Picture”

Before Harmon ruled that Pan’s bond should remain at $20 million, the defendant’s and plaintiff’s attorneys made their cases to the judge as to why that bond amount should be lowered or kept the same.

The sixth-floor court room — replete with plastic dividers, face masks, hand sanitizer, and other Covid safety protocols — was almost crowded, at least in comparison to previous hearings in the case.

A half-dozen reporters stood in the jury box or sat on benches reserved for members of the public. Another half-dozen state marshals and court clerks stood and sat around the perimeter of the judge’s bench. A handful of defendants and attorneys and members of the public present for other cases spread out across the benches in the back of the room.

And, side by side with a court-appointed victim’s advocate, Jiang’s mom, Linda Liu sat quietly and listened to the proceedings. Local attorney Willie Dow, who is representing Jiang’s parents and has filed an appearance in the ongoing murder case, was also in attendance.

Gerace leaned in his argument for a lower bond on the actions of a New Haven police dispatcher and a North Haven police officer the night of Jiang’s shooting death.

First, Gerace said, a New Haven dispatcher put out a bulletin to surrounding town police departments indicating that a murder had just taken place in New Haven and that there were possibly two suspects, one of whom was possibly a Black male.

“It’s a muddled picture,” Gerace said. The fact that a New Haven dispatcher appears to have thought that there might have been two suspects ​“doesn’t preclude that someone else was the shooter.” In the New Haven arrest warrant affidavit, a city police detective wrote that the dispatcher erroneously reported that the suspect might have been Black, and that no 911 calls or interviews on the scene indicated that the suspect might be Black.

Gerace also referred to Pan’s interactions with North Haven police later that night after two officers found him driving a SUV with a stolen license plate on train tracks by a scrap metal yard. A North Haven police officer ultimately let Pan go, even though he was driving nearly an identical vehicle ID’d by the New Haven police dispatcher.

“He was peaceful and docile” with the police, Gerace said. ​“He was cooperative. He was placid. And he was released.”

In a separate police warrant affidavit, the North Haven police officer wrote that he released Pan in large part because the New Haven dispatcher said there were two possible suspects, one of whom was possibly Black.

Gerace also argued that Pan is ​“indigent.” He has no bank account and no source of income, Gerace said. While his parents do own two homes in Massachusetts, he said, they ​“are not of unlimited wealth.”

“He owns no car. He owns no property. And he has no money,” Gerace said. He also has no previous criminal record. And, contrary to what the state has asserted, Pan has no direct connections and is not in communication with anyone in China. While he is originally from China, he and his parents are U.S. citizens.

Gerace also pointed out that the highest previous bond in Connecticut history that he could find was $6 million for Fotis Dulos in the murder case of Jennifer Dulos.

Therefore, he concluded, the judge should set a bond at a ​“reasonable” amount needed to ensure Pan’s return to court for future hearings in the case.

The State’s Case For A High Bond

During her time addressing the court, state prosecutor Stacey Miranda argued that a $20 million bond is an appropriate amount given Pan’s flight risk, as evidenced by the three-month manhunt that ended in Alabama.

She also said he poses a danger to himself and others because ​“the homicide was extremely brutal in nature and extremely violent,” involving five bullets to Jiang’s head and a number of other shots fired at his shoulder, neck, torso, and other areas of his body.

Miranda described in detail the evidence collected by law enforcement that seem to connect Pan to the murder. That includes:

• Jiang’s blood on the gear shifter of an SUV allegedly stolen by Pan from a Massachusetts dealership the same day as the homicide.

• Tissue from Jiang’s body on the front of a grey knit winter hat that belonged to Pan.

• A gun, a gun case, and bullets ditched by an Arby’s alongside other items that belonged to Pan. Miranda said police have still not found the weapon used in Jiang’s shooting death, though they have connected bullets fired at the scene of Jiang’s death to four other shootings that took place in New Haven in the weeks and months prior.

• Surveillance images showing a car belonging to Pan’s family in New Haven multiple times in the weeks and months before the alleged murder, surveillance footage of Pan and his parents at an electronics store in Marietta, Ga. soon after the murder, and an admission by Pan’s father to law enforcement that Pan had called him the night of the shooting death and said he was in Connecticut and needed help.

Miranda added that the state believes Pan’s family is wealthy, and does have connections to people in China. She said that his parents were investigated by the federal government between 2014 and 2020 for suspicious wire transfers to their bank accounts from a bank account in China.

“I do believe he’s a flight risk. I do believe he’s a danger to the community. I do believe he’s a danger to himself,” Miranda said, referring to how Pan allegedly told his parents that he was going to commit suicide while they were on the run after the shooting.

Ultimately, Harmon sided with Miranda’s argument, and kept Pan’s bond at $20 million.

“The Pain We Feel Is Unbearable”

After the hearing and on the sidewalk outside of the courthouse, Dow read a brief statement written by Jiang’s parents.

“We are devastated by the tragic, cold-blooded and premeditated killing of our son, Kevin,” that statement reads. ​“He was an exceptional person; an outstanding student, a veteran who served his country and a person who wanted to work to make this world a better place. There are no words to express the pain we experience.

“We appreciate the efforts of law enforcement and the prosecution. We respect the Court’s ruling. The defendant tried to run away from his crime and hid for three months until his capture. However, we have confidence that justice will be fully served for Kevin and his family, and the defendant will be held fully accountable for the horrible crime he committed and punished to the full extent of the law.

“The pain we feel is unbearable.”