Case # #15HF0776
Irvine Man Sentenced to 26 years to Life for Hitting Wife’s Lover
with a Car and Stabbing Him to Death in Front of Her
SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Irvine man was sentenced today to the maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison for the first degree murder of his estranged wife’s lover. The defendant was also convicted of stabbing the victim’s female friend before fleeing the crime scene.
Hongli Sun, 43, of Irvine, was convicted on October 1, 2020 of one felony count of first-degree murder with a felony enhancement for using a deadly weapon, and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon with a felony enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury.
On July 18, 2015, Sun drove to Dr. Xuan Liu’s dental office on Barranca Parkway in Irvine and sat in his Mercedes waiting for Liu to return. Sun discovered months before that Liu was having an affair with Sun’s wife.
Sun intentionally drove into Liu in the parking lot and then stabbed Liu multiple times. The 54-year-old dentist died at the scene. Sun also stabbed a women who attempted to intervene in the attack.
“The cold, calculated choice to murder another human being deserves the harshest punishment,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Violence is never the answer, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.