16 February 2009 :

a man who was convicted of killing eight people, including a 2 year old boy, formally appealed the death sentence handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Suizhou in Hubei Province, China. Xiong Zhenlin, 35, said in his appeal that he "drank himself into a stupor" before the killings and deserved leniency for his "good attitude" in confessing to the crime, a court spokesman told Xinhua. The spokesman said the appeals court ruling would be announced within 45 days. Xiong, a junk collector, killed eight people in Luoyang Township, Suizhou City, on January 4 and was arrested in the provincial capital Wuhan a week later.