By Joe Anuta
The Chinese national who killed a Flushing woman by beating her to death and removing her organs was sentenced to up to 29 years in prison last week.
Chen Huang, 49, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence in late November. He had originally been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the grisly 2010 killing of 46-year-old Qian Wu.
But Wu’s husband, Yongwei Guo, said the sentence was too light for the January slaying, in which Huang bashed Wu in the head with a hammer more than 30 times and repeatedly stabbed her in the torso, arms and face. according to the Queens district attorney. He then cut out two organs, the DA said.
Guo is suing the NYPD and the federal immigration agency for negligence surrounding the case.
“My client was unhappy,” said attorney George Clarke, of firm Dai & Associates, who represents Guo. “He feels that [Huang] shouldn’t be released again. If we can’t have the death penalty, then he should be in there for life.”
But Clarke said the plea was a way to ensure that Huang did not get off on an insanity plea while still serving a substantial sentence.
“He is going to be in for a long time,” he said. “If he lives until his 70s, he might have a chance to get out. But if he doesn’t live that long, he will spend the rest of his days incarcerated.”
Huang is an illegal immigrant from Shanghai who formerly lived at 135-24 40th Road and had approached Wu prior to 2010.
Wu ran an employment agency out of her Flushing apartment, and in May 2006 Huang entered that apartment and wrapped a plastic rope around her neck, choked her and repeatedly punched her in the face, according to a criminal complaint she filed.
The next day, Huang again entered her apartment, pointed a knife at her and said, “I need a job,” according to the complaint.
After Huang was arrested, he pleaded guilty to weapon possession and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
But being an illegal immigrant, Huang was sent to Texas to await deportation procedures under the auspices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Four years later in 2010, he was out on supervised release and made his way back to New York, where he again harassed Wu, according to the DA.
On Jan. 18, Wu filed a complaint with the NYPD that Huang had come back and had bothered her.
He and his wife tried numerous times to get another order of protection, but were not successful, according to Wu’s husband.
On Jan. 26, 2010, at about 7:30 p.m., neighbors found Wu’s bloody body on the third-floor landing of her apartment building.
Police observed surveillance footage showing Huang leaving his apartment at 5 p.m. and returning about half an hour later covered in blood and carrying a yellow plastic bag.
Police later recovered a yellow bag from a garbage can near Huang’s house. It contained a utility knife, a hammer and a blood-stained sweater, pair of jeans and rag, the DA said.
Guo is currently suing the NYPD and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for negligence surrounding his wife’s killing.
Wu left behind a teenage son from another marriage, who had been living in China since before her death.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone 718-260-4566.
