Ingham County assistant prosecutor Kimberly Hesse holds up a plastic water pitcher while cross-examining MSU alumnus Meng Long Li Jan. 30 at 30th Circuit Court in the Ingham County Courthouse, 315 S. Jefferson St, Mason, Michigan. The water pitcher is a major piece of evidence involved in crimes that were committed Jan. 31, 2014, at Limit Pool & Karaoke Club, 2800 E. Grand River Ave. and had been used to repeatedly beat the student who was attacked that evening. Allyson Telgenhof/The State News.
A jury has found alumnus Meng Long Li guilty of assaulting MSU student Yan Li with a plastic water pitcher at a karaoke bar on the 2014 Chinese New Year.
Although the jury found Meng Long Li guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery, they did not find him guilty of intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, Ingham County assistant prosecutor Kimberly Hesse said.
Meng Long Li is scheduled for sentencing on July 15. He could face up to four years in prison for the felonious assault charge alone.
Earlier Thursday the jury heard closing arguments. Their verdict came after six days of trial and more than three months after his initial trial.
At the first trial, Meng Long Li stood trial alongside former student Shan Gao for the beating. Gao was found not guilty, but a verdict was not reached for Meng Long Li. A retrial for Meng Long Li was then ordered by Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III.
The attack occurred Jan. 31, 2014, at the Limit Pool and Karaoke Club in Meridian Township and was allegedly sparked by Yan Li asking around for Meng Long Li's cellphone number — a sign of someone looking for trouble, Meng Long Li said in court.
The two previously had scuffled in late Nov. 2013 at Hong’s Cafe over a fight between two others.
At the karaoke bar, Meng Long Li confronted Yan Li about the cellphone number.
When Yan Li left for his private karaoke room, several men followed him. In the room they pushed him down, beat him and struck him over the head multiple times with a plastic water pitcher, breaking the handle off of the pitcher and giving Yan Li a laceration on the back of his head that required 10 staples to close.
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