In the Spotlight
Seton Hall Law Professor Maggie Lewis in the Washington Post, The National Post, Yahoo! News, and More
Seton Hall Law Professor Margaret Lewis, legal expert in mainland China and Taiwan with an emphasis on criminal justice, was quoted in several articles after a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to the death penalty.
Professor Lewis lended her expertise and spoke to the media as to what makes the case unique, the difficulty in determining what exactly has occured, and reasonings why.
From the Washington Post:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday expressed “extreme concern” after a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a retrial ordered not long after the arrest in Vancouver of a Chinese technology executive.
A death sentence for Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, complicates an ongoing standoff over the arrest of Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer on U.S. charges and the subsequent detention in China of two Canadians on national security charges.
“The procedures in Mr. Schellenberg’s case would be unusual even if he was a Chinese national. The fact that he is a Canadian, combined with the welcoming of foreign media to view court proceedings, makes it downright suspicious,” said Margaret Lewis, a law professor at Seton Hall University.
More from the Washington Post.
From The National Post:
Unlike one of the other accused in the case, Schellenberg’s death sentence did not come with a two-year suspension, which usually results in the penalty being commuted to life in prison, noted Margaret Lewis, a law professor at New Jersey’s Seton Hall University and an expert on the Chinese legal system.
He can appeal, and all death penalties are reviewed – and invariably confirmed – by the Supreme People’s Court, but without political intervention, his prospects look grim, she said.
“Unless there is some dramatic turn of events, this is marching toward execution in the not too distant future,” said Lewis. “This is the most severe sentence allowed under Chinese law. It is death, with execution (after) crossing the Ts and dotting the Is.”
From Yahoo! News:
"What's unusual is how this case shifted from extremely slow handling to suddenly rapid fire movement," said Margaret Lewis, a law professor at Seton Hall University.
Professor Lewis was also quoted in The Guardian, and appeared onCTV News, and VOA Asia.
Professor Lewis has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at National Taiwan University, a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Public Intellectuals Program Fellow with the National Committee on United States-China Relations, and a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation's US-Japan Leadership Program.