Google Engineer's Wife-Murder Case: Liren Chen Seeks Not-Guilty Plea on Insanity Grounds
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The "Google wife-murder case" that shocked both China and the U.S. has reached a critical turn. On October 19 local time, the case of Google engineer Liren Chen, charged with beating his wife to death, returned to Santa Clara County court, where defense attorney Schroder formally sought a not-guilty plea on the grounds that Chen was in a state of mental disorder at the time of the crime, according to Red Star News.
A court attendee told the outlet that after Schroder stated the insanity defense, the judge turned to Chen and said: "Mr. Chen, I need to inform you that you have entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, you could spend the rest of your life in a state hospital. Do you understand?" Chen replied through his interpreter: "I understand." The next hearing is tentatively set for November 18.
Case background: on January 18, 2024, California police responded to a homicide report and found the body of the victim, Yu, on a bedroom floor — her head severely injured by a blunt object, blood across the floor, walls and door. When officers arrived, Chen was "kneeling motionless, hands raised in the air, eyes vacant"; his right hand was "extremely swollen and purple," with blood on his clothes, legs, arms and hands. Asked how he hurt his hand, Chen told first responders: "I punched my wife."
At a June 2025 hearing, a detective played home surveillance footage: Yu's last image appeared in the kitchen at 0:21 a.m. on January 16, 2024; at 4:43 a.m. Chen appeared in bloodstained clothes; minutes later he appeared holding a power saw, which he placed against his own neck; at 8:10 a.m. he took out a wide-bladed knife and held it to his neck.
Both husband and wife were Google engineers and Tsinghua University graduates who bought a $2.05 million home in Santa Clara County in April 2023. As early as June 2024, attorney Schroder had said he would seek an acquittal and had received medical records concerning Chen from China.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州圣克拉拉县法院大楼（资料图）。HarshLight 摄，CC BY 2.0，经维基共享资源（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: The Santa Clara County Courthouse in California (file photo). By HarshLight, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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