a remarried bank clerk in northern China was sentenced to death for hiring a hit man to strangle her son so she could have a child with her new husband

a remarried bank clerk in northern China was sentenced to death for hiring a hit man to strangle her son so she could have a child with her new husband and avoid violating population-control policies. The sentence was handed down recently by Shaanxi Higher People's Court, overturning a lower court ruling that gave the defendant the possibility of serving only a life sentence, the Chinese Business View newspaper reported. The defendant was identified as Li Yingfang, 36, who used to work in a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province. The Weinan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li to death with a two-year reprieve in 2007 after it found she suffered depression and other emotional trauma after her second abortion. The Shaanxi Higher People's Court also upheld hitman Ruijie Wang's sentence but increased the compensation to 65,000 yuan.