Qinxuan Pan Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison

A state judge sentenced Qinxuan Pan to 35 years in prison after the former MIT artificial intelligence researcher pleaded guilty to the 2021 murder of Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang.

State Superior Court Judge Gerald Harmon handed down that sentence on Tuesday, according to the state criminal convictions database and a press release sent out by the state’s attorney’s office.

The sentence comes roughly two months after Pan, 33, pleaded guilty in late February to the murder of Jiang, 26, who was shot to death at Lawrence and Nicoll streets near Jiang’s fiancee’s apartment more than three years ago.

The night of the murder, North Haven police allegedly encountered Pan in a deserted scrap metal yard—and then let him go. Pan, who knew Jiang’s fiancee, then fled the state. U.S. marshals arrested him in Alabama after a three-month manhunt.

“Today, I would like to extend my condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Jiang who have endured such an unimaginable loss due to this senseless crime,” State’s Attorney John Doyle is quoted as saying in Tuesday’s press release. The lead prosecutors on the case were Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Stacey M. Miranda and Assistant State’s Attorneys Kelly E. Davis and Gregory L. Borrelli.

“I feel sorry for what my actions caused,” Pan is quoted as saying in the Hearst article. ​“I fully accept my penalties.”

The murder of Jiang, a grad student at Yale’s School of the Environment who served as a U.S. Army National Guardsman and was an active member of Trinity Baptist Church on State Street, sparked outpourings of grief from shocked city residents and the Yale community more broadly.