A Taiwan high court judge turned down the appeal by...

A Taiwan high court judge turned down the appeal by Chen Chao-chin against the death sentence by the Keelung district court for hiring a killer to assassinate a rival candidate for the city legislature. Chen had been found guilty at Keelung earlier in the year of having Chen Chin-chi, a city councilman, shot to death at Shihlin on November 16, 2002. The hired killer, Tung Chih-tai, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Taipei district court at Shihlin in February 2004. The high court upheld Tung's life imprisonment verdict. The city councilman was shot at a Shihlin restaurant, where he had taken part in a wedding reception. Both Chens were running against each other in the elections for the city council. The convict, who believed he could not win unless his rival had been removed, asked his brother, Chen Shih-chang, to hire the gunman.