SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Irvine doctor was convicted of first degree for the killing of his estranged wife’s lover. The defendant was also convicted of stabbing the victim’s female friend before fleeing the crime scene.
Hongli Sun, 43, of Irvine, was convicted of one felony count of first-degree murder with a felony enhancement for using a deadly weapon, and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon with a felony enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury. He faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 30, 2020.
On July 18, 2015, Sun drove to Dr. Xuan Liu’s dental office on Barranca Parkway in Irvine and sat in his Mercedes waiting for Liu to return. Sun discovered months before that Liu was having an affair with Sun’s wife.
Sun intentionally drove into Liu in the parking lot and then stabbed Liu multiple times. The 54-year-old dentist died at the scene. Sun also stabbed a women who attempted to intervene in the attack.
“Even though there were multiple witnesses to the murder, this was not an easy case to prosecute,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The defense attempted to paint this as a crime of passion, but Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney was masterful in walking the jurors through the elements of the crime to show this was a cold calculated choice by the defendant to end another human being’s life.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.