Beijing baby killer stands second trial

A man sentenced to death in September for throwing and killing a two-year-old girl stood trial again in a second trial that opened Tuesday in the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court.

Han Lei, 39, grabbed a girl from her pram and hurled her to the ground near a bus station in Daxing District on July 23 after an argument with the girl's mother over a parking space.

Han was sentenced to death by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Sept. 25 on charges of intentional homicide.

Han lodged an appeal through his attorney on Oct. 8 to have his crime reduced to involuntary homicide on the grounds that he didn't know it was a baby carriage or that he was hurling a baby.

The case will be decided on at a later date, the court said.