Man’s Request for Resentencing Denied in Case of Murders Involving USC Graduates from China

LOS ANGELES—On December 31, a state appellate court panel denied a re-sentencing request from one of the two individuals convicted of murdering two Chinese graduate students from the University of Southern California (USC) during a robbery over a decade ago.

The panel, consisting of three justices from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, upheld a decision made in May 2023 by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge regarding Javier Bolden, who is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the fatal attack on Ying Wu and Ming Qu on April 11, 2012.

The victims were shot dead while seated in a double-parked BMW on a street adjacent to the USC campus.

Bolden, now 32, sought re-sentencing based on a recent alteration in state law that impacts certain murder cases.

However, retired Judge Stephen Marcus determined that current laws still support a murder conviction for Bolden, as evidence indicated he played a significant role in the murders, exhibiting a reckless disregard for human life and actively aiding and abetting the crimes, according to the appellate court’s five-page ruling.

Co-defendant Bryan Barnes, identified in the ruling as the shooter who killed the two students, pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and acknowledged that he used a firearm in the crime. Barnes, also 32, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Barnes has not contested his conviction or sentencing.

In 2016, an appellate court panel also denied a previous appeal from Bolden.

At that time, the defense argued that jurors should not have been allowed to hear Bolden’s self-incriminating statements made to the police or his discussions with a confidential informant about the incidents.

The appellate court found in 2016 that “Bolden freely and without hesitation boasted to the informant about the events of both shootings and elaborate details of his involvement.”

The justices remarked that there was “overwhelming evidence” supporting Bolden’s first-degree murder conviction for the deaths of Wu and Qu, indicating he was “convicted as an accomplice to the actual murderer.”

Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon informed the jurors that Barnes discharged two shots into the car where Wu and Qu were seated, while Bolden encouraged Barnes to “get what you can get” as the victims succumbed before them.

Jurors acknowledged the special circumstances of multiple murders and killings committed during the robbery.

Alongside the murders, Bolden was also convicted of attempted murder for a shooting on February 12, 2012, approximately three miles from where the students were killed, which caused a victim to suffer permanent brain damage, and assault with a semi-automatic firearm against a woman struck by a stray bullet during that attack.

During Bolden’s sentencing, the judge remarked that he exhibited “no remorse” throughout the trial, expressing disbelief by asking, “How could you be gleeful about the nightmare you have caused?”