First defendant sentenced to life without parole in beating death of USC Chinese student Xinran Ji

One of four defendants found guilty of fatally pummeling Chinese graduate student Xinran Ji at USC during a robbery in 2014 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus five years and eight months, in prison Wednesday 8/16/2017. It was the maximum sentence Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli could give.

Xinran’s parents, families, friends, lawyer meeting with media after the sentence

District attorney John Mckinney

Andrew Garcia, 21, was convicted in June of first-degree murder in the death of Xinran Ji, an engineering student who had been walking home from a study group when he was attacked in the middle of the night.

The 24-year-old engineering student died after being hit with a baseball bat and wrench during an attempted robbery while walking home from a study group on July 24, 2014.

Ji ran away, but Garcia eventually caught up to him and hit him repeatedly with the bat. Ji made his way back to his apartment, where he died and was found hours later by a roommate.

Ji’s parents flew in from China for the hearing about the killing of their only son. Both appeared extremely distraught.

“People our age are now prepping their daughters’ and their sons’ wedding and their life is full of joy…instead, for us, we are paying tribute to our son, crying ,” Ji’s father said in court as streams of tears rolled down his face.

Xinran’s mom hug with District attorney John Mckinney  after the sentence

Xinran’s mom touching her son on the picture with tears pouring

Xinran Parents’ lawyer Rose Tsai

Garcia, along with co-defendants Albert Ochoa, Jonathan Del Carmen and Alejandra Guerrero, also robbed a man and a woman near Dockweiler Beach that day, prosecutors said.

Student Yang Deng from USC