A man entered guilty pleas Thursday in connection with the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife and a male friend of hers in a McDonald's restaurant in Richmond.
Chang Xi Wang pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his ex-wife, Yan Lin, 36, and to the second-degree murder of Zhe Hu, 37.
The accused had originally been charged with the second-degree murder of Lin but pleaded guilty to the lesser and included offence of manslaughter.
The pleas were entered during a brief appearance before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman in Vancouver.
Wang sat quietly in the prisoner's dock with a Mandarin interpreter by his side.
Don Morrison, Wang's lawyer, told the judge that there would be an agreed statement of facts and possibly a joint book of authorities to deal with parole eligibility issues.
A 15-day jury trial had been scheduled to get under way March 18. The sentencing for Wang has been scheduled for March 28.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years of parole ineligibility. The only sentencing issue on the murder count will be parole eligibility.
Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life in prison but usually results in a lesser jail sentence.
The two victims were stabbed to death in front of patrons and staff at the restaurant on No. 3 Road in Richmond on Aug. 28, 2009.
Wang, 33, was arrested soon after the slayings and has remained in custody since.
At the time of his arrest, court records showed that Wang had pleaded guilty to assaulting Lin in 2008. He received a conditional discharge and one year of probation and a one-year no-contact order forbidding him from contacting Lin. Both of the court orders expired just two days before the stabbing.
