Tailei Qi, the suspect in the shooting death of UNC faculty member Zijie Yan, made his first appearance in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday morning.
During the roughly 15-minute appearance in the Hillsborough courtroom, the UNC doctoral student at one point spoke directly to Judge Allen Baddour — despite the judge’s suggestions not to — about his recent mental health evaluation and wish to change representation.
Qi’s defense sought an evaluation for the Chinese national earlier in September, and triggered the appearance on Tuesday ahead of filing a motion questioning Qi’s “capacity to proceed” in being tried for the alleged murder of Yan.
“In support of that motion, Your Honor,” said Assistant Public Defender Dana Graves, “the defense intends to submit to this court a capacity report from [psychiatrist] Dr. George Corvin, who has met with Mr. Qi, evaluated Mr. Qi, and is of the opinion that Mr. Qi lacks the capacity to continue to proceed.”
The prosecution — which is the Orange County District Attorney’s Office — filed a motion as well, saying it would like to have a state psychiatrist a second opinion of Qi. While Graves said the defense acknowledges that right for a second opinion, they worry about Qi’s mental health deteriorating further if it takes a long time for an evaluation and report to be finished.
“Because our capacity concerns, to some extent, revolve around his ability to rationally work with counsel at this time,” she said, “I also have concerns that a delay in a second capacity evaluation could implicate his right to counsel.”
Baddour ruled for the initial mental capacity report to be filed and sealed, as well as a second evaluation to be granted. That evaluation will be conducted by the Central Regional Hospital in Butner, N.C., with it being recorded on video as long as it does not affect the psychiatrists’ ability to best evaluate Qi.
Qi, who had the events in the courtroom relayed to him by an in-person interpreter, stood up toward the end of the proceedings to state his displeasure with the evaluation, saying the meeting with Dr. Corvin only lasted half an hour. He said he was “playing with [a] phone to get information from the outside,” and that led the doctor to misread his mental state. Qi also alleged that his desire for representation beyond Orange County’s public defender contributed to a poor report from Dr. Corvin.
“I do not think that this mental health evaluation is necessary,” Qi said to the judge, “and I think… his evaluation is too simple. He just may think because I requested to get a new attorney, he said I have [a] mental health problem to bypass this [representation] problem.”
Baddour stopped Qi from speaking further, saying his recommendation is not only for the suspect to continue speaking with the public defenders, but for him to continue using them.
“What I want you to know,” said the judge, “is that you have two lawyers beside you who are willing to work for you and with you. And what they need is your cooperation and help. Things will not go at the speed you want them to. Our court system does not work at any one person’s pace or interest — there are a lot of moving parts in a case, and it goes slower than all of us would like it to.”
Baddour also recommended to Qi that he cooperate with the psychiatrists doing evaluations because “every time you work with them, things move along and things start going faster.” He told Public Defender Woodrena Baker-Harrell that Qi’s representation wishes are noted for the court record and it will be addressed “if and when it’s appropriate.”
Qi was identified as a person of interest in a fatal shooting the afternoon of August 28, after UNC campus was locked down to due to a report of gunfire at Caudill Laboratories. Upon police’s arrival, they found Yan — an applied physical sciences researcher — fatally shot and began a search for Qi, who was named in the initial 911 call that sparked law enforcement’s response. Qi was ultimately arrested in a residential area two miles north of the Chapel Hill campus. In addition to the first-degree murder charge he faces, the graduate student is also charged with having a firearm on educational property, which is a felony crime as well.
Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman has confirmed prosecution will not be seeking the death penalty in this case, despite it being the most extreme punishment available if Qi is found guilty. Nieman confirmed to Chapelboro on Tuesday that the firearm used to kill Yan has yet to be recovered by investigators.
The tentative next date for Qi to appear is November 18 if the state psychiatric evaluation is completed by then. Baddour added, though, that the defense could again file a motion to consider Qi mentally unfit to be tried if there are extensive delays from Central Regional Hospital.
Audio of the full superior court proceedings from Qi’s appearance on Tuesday can be listen to here, courtesy of ABC 11.
Photo via AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum.
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