A policeman who shot a driver dead in China's southwest Yunnan Province in February while off duty, following a minor traffic dispute, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death Monday.

Ji Zhongchun

The verdict against Ji Zhongchun, a policeman with the Public Security Bureau of Mengzi County, was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Mengzi County falls under the jurisdiction of Honghe Prefecture.

The court also stripped Ji of his political rights for life and ordered him to pay compensation of 100,000 yuan (about 14,706 US dollars) to the survivors of Pan Jun, the victim.

The court heard that on Feb. 13, a drunk Ji, 42, drove his private car to a residential quarter on Tianzhu Road in Mengzi County. Ji was backing up at about 9 p.m. when he got into an argument with Pan Jun, 40, an employee of a local electric power company, who said Ji's car scratched his vehicle.

Pan struck Ji, who pulled out his gun and shot Pan to death.

Witnesses alerted police and Ji was detained at the scene.

The court said as a policeman, Ji had broken regulations by carrying his weapon and drinking while off-duty. He had committed the offense of drunk driving, the court said.

It said he also committed murder by shooting Pan to death in a dispute over a scratch on the latter's vehicle.

The court ruled that even though Ji hadn't fled the scene and had confessed to most aspects of the crime, he didn't merit leniency because he didn't take the initiative to surrender to police.

Ji disputed the court's finding and said his conduct hadn't been taken into account during sentencing. He said he planned to appeal.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2009)