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'Potentially Record-Setting' Bail Upheld For MIT Researcher Accused Of Killing Yale Student
Connecticut Judge Gerald Harmon pointed to the wealth of Qinxuan Pan's family as part of the reason for the high bail in the murder of Kevin Jiang.
A judge has upheld a possibly record-setting $20 million dollar bond for an MIT researcher accused of killing a Yale student.
Qinxuan Pan, 29, is accused of shooting Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang, 26, to death in February in New Haven, Connecticut, before leading police on a months-long chase in the south. He was captured in May in Alabama before being charged with murder.
Last week, Judge Gerald Harmon in New Haven declined Pan’s plea to reduce a $20 million bail set for him, WABC-TV reports. He called Pan a danger to both the public and potentially himself.
The Hartford Courant described the bail amount as “potentially record-setting.” Pan's lawyer, William Gerace, who also called the amount a “record,” stated Wednesday that he planned to appeal the bail amount to the state Supreme Court, according to WABC-TV. He wants the bail set at $2 million or $3 million.
Fischer cited fears that Pan could flee as part of the reasoning behind the high bail. He also noted that his family has strong ties to China and a great deal of wealth. U.S. Treasury financial crimes investigators told prosecutors that they repeatedly flagged wire transfers from China of “very large amounts of money” to both Pan and his parents in 2014 to 2020, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Stacey Miranda stated in court on Wednesday, the Courant reports. Pan was born in Shanghai and has lived in the U.S. since 2007.
Investigators have also been investigating Pan’s parents for allegedly help Pan flee Connecticut the after the murder.
Pan was a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is where he met Jiang’s fiancée, Zion Perry. Jiang had proposed to Perry just a week before his murder. It’s unclear how well Pan and Perry knew each other.
