SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Liren Chen, 27, who was charged with murdering his wife in their Santa Clara home last month, failed to appear in court at what was to be his fifth attempted arraignment.
“It’s very unusual for somebody not to be brought to court this long after they were arrested,” said Mr. Chen’s attorney, Wesley J. Schroeder.
Mr. Chen was arrested on Jan. 16 when Santa Clara police officers responded to a welfare check at a house on Valley Way and found the dead body of his wife in the bedroom.
Both Mr. Chen and his wife, Xuanyi Yu, worked at Google as software engineers, according to LinkedIn.
The next arraignment in court is set for the afternoon of Feb. 9.
Mr. Chen is facing one count of murder charge and will go to prison if convicted.
In a statement on Jan. 19, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen called this case a killing by domestic violence.
“Domestic violence deaths have been falling in our county but that does not measure the depth and destructiveness of the violence,” he stated.
Mr. Schroeder said Mr. Chen will plead not guilty.
“Basically it’s super rare in a criminal case in the United States that you walk in and plead somebody guilty, because you keep all of your options open if you plead not guilty,” he said.
Mr. Schroeder said that when he was heading to the courtroom, prosecutors notified him that Mr. Chen was absent again.
“I fully expected he’d be here today,” Mr. Schroeder told reporters.
Mr. Schroeder also confirmed he has met Mr. Chen twice and has been able to speak with him.
“I don’t want to get into evaluations of his ability to communicate. I don’t want to get into that at this point. It’s too premature from a legal perspective,” he added.
Mr. Chen’s parents arrived in the United States after his wife’s death. They have been seen in the courtroom once.
Mr. Chen’s father, Fu Chen, is recognized as the Deputy Director of CAAC Southwest Regional Administration after his appearance in court.
According to a Santa Clara Police Department report, the responding officers entered the residence after observing Mr. Chen through the window with blood on his jacket and socks. Officers took Mr. Chen into custody after they found a dead body in the bedroom near where Mr. Chen had been standing.
Mr. Chen’s right hand was found to be “extremely swollen and purple.” When Santa Clara Fire Department personnel asked Mr. Chen how he had hurt his hand, Mr. Chen replied, “I punched my wife.”
When asked when this happened, Mr. Chen replied, “Yesterday.”
Detective Sergeant Frank Hagg wrote in a police report, “I believe Chen was wearing the sandals as he stood or crouched next to [adapted] and struck her repeatedly in the head with his hand.”
