Fascinating story of defense efforts in Li Qinghong case

Li Qinghong is (or was) a real estate businessman who in March of 2010 was sentenced by a court in Guiyang to 19 years' imprisonment for involvement in organized crime. The story of what happened afterwards is fascinating and is recounted here (in English and Chinese) on the Tea Leaf Nation blog. The long and the short of it is that an increasingly vigorous defense was mounted, a number of lawyers got involved, gross procedural problems were exposed, and ultimately (surprise!) the conviction was upheld on retrial. Plenty of grist for both optimists and pessimists.