Irvine husband pleads not guilty in slaying of rival; he’d told police he had ‘nothing to live for’
An Irvine engineer who pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering a man who apparently was having an affair with his wife previously told police he had “nothing to live for,” according to court documents.
Hongli Sun, 38, entered the plea in an Orange County jailhouse courtroom. He will remain behind bars without bail.
Irvine police said Sun told officers he was suicidal shortly after his arrest at an Irvine dental office July 18.
Defense attorney Rayford Fountain said Sun’s mental state has improved since then. “He’s quite stable,” Fountain said.
Police say that Sun admitted to waiting in his SUV outside the Barranca Parkway office until he saw his wife return from lunch with Xuan Liu, 54, an Irvine dentist.
In court documents, an Irvine police detective described Liu as the wife’s lover.
Sun allegedly drove at Liu, hitting him with the SUV hard enough to throw the man 20 feet.
Sun then got out of the SUV and stabbed Liu multiple times in the chest with a knife, according to police.
Sun faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole if he’s convicted of special-circumstances murder and assault with a deadly weapon, plus sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury and the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Police said Sun also injured a woman who was with Liu when she tried to intervene in the attack. It’s unclear if that woman was Sun’s wife or a second woman who police said was with the two as they returned from lunch.
Court records show that Sun filed for divorce in September but that the couple asked a judge to halt the proceedings at the 11th hour.
Liu’s wife also filed for divorce in September. The divorce was finalized this year.
Sun and his wife were married in Singapore 12 years ago, and they have an 8-year-old son, according to court records. Sun has no other family in the U.S., police wrote.
Liu and his ex-wife married 27 years ago in China, they wrote in a court filing. They have a 13-year-old son, records show.