Hearing of USC Chinese student murder case held in LA

A hearing of Chinese student murder case was held in Los Angeles on Tuesday to determine whether the defendants should stand trial for the crime.

Jonathan Del Carmen, 19, along with 17-year-old Alberto Ochoa and 16-year-old Alejandra Guerrero, is charge in the murder of Xinran Ji, an electrical engineering graduate student in the University of Southern California.

Ji, 24, was targeted and beaten to death near campus while walking home around 12:45 a.m. on July 24, 2014.

The fourth defendant, 19-year-old Andrew Garcia, suspended criminal proceedings for his mental competence to stand trial need to be evaluated next month.

Matthew Courtney, a Los Angeles police detective, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar in the hearing that he went to an apartment building after having been notified of a suspicious death and found Ji dead in bed.

Courtney said he saw potential blood droplets near the front door of the apartment building, near the elevator, as well as in the living room, bathroom and bedroom of Ji's unit.

The evidence also included sneakers covered with potential blood evidence, Courtney testified.

Along with murder, the defendants face a special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during an attempted robbery. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Del Carmen and Garcia, both of whom are 19 years old. Ochoa and Guerrero will not be sentenced to death as they are under 18.

Garcia, Ochoa and Guerrero are also charged with one count of robbery each, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon for an alleged attack on a man and woman at Dockweiler Beach later that day. They allegedly robbed the woman, while the man escaped and flagged down the police.