Life in prison for NJ chemist who poisoned husband
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A judge in New Jersey has sentenced a chemist to life prison for fatally poisoning her husband during a contentious divorce.
Tianle Li was sentenced Monday. She won’t be eligible for parole for nearly 63 years.
Li denies killing her husband and is appealing her conviction.
The Monroe resident worked for New York City-based biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prosecutors alleged she poisoned husband Xiaoye (zow-yay) Wang, a computer software engineer, by giving him thallium, a tasteless, odorless poison, which she ordered through work in 2010.
Thallium is banned for consumer use in the United States. It can be fatal in tiny doses and is difficult to detect in lab tests.
Wang died in January 2011.
Judge Michael Toto says Wang’s murder was “planned, calculated and committed in a cruel and depraved manner.”