dpThe man charged with killing a UNC-Chapel Hill professor in 2023 was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday.
An Orange County judge ruled that Tailei Qi did not understand the wrongfulness of his actions when Zijie Yan, his academic adviser, was shot and killed on UNC’s campus in August 2023.
The ruling came after a final hearing on Friday focused on Qi’s mental state at the time of the shooting. Qi was then a doctoral student at UNC. Yan was an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences.
Qi had previously been found competent to stand trial in March. That determination dealt with whether he was mentally capable of participating in court proceedings. Friday’s hearing focused instead on whether he understood the wrongfulness of his actions when Yan was killed.
Two psychiatrists testified Friday after each spent more than a dozen hours evaluating Qi and reviewing his mental health history.
“He was not capable of understanding the inherent wrongfulness of his actions,” Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman said. “To that end, in response, the judge found that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Qi had history of mental illness
The psychiatrists said Qi had at least 10 years of documented mental illness that likely began during his high school years and included recurring delusions and hallucinations.
They said some of Qi’s hallucinations involved women, and one involved Yan. They also testified that Qi believed assassins were following him.
Dr. Nicole Wolf, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that Qi suffered from untreated schizophrenia and that his delusions affected his understanding of his actions in August 2023.
“Mr. Qi suffered from untreated schizophrenia — delusions — he did not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions in August 2023,” Wolf said.
Qi, who was 34 at the time of the shooting, previously attended Louisiana State University and Wuhan University.
In the weeks before the shooting, Yan had reached out to a colleague to express concern about a student who had told him about struggling with severe mental illness and delusions. Yan did not identify the student as Qi, according to testimony referenced during the hearing.
Two psychiatric evaluations, conducted in September and November 2023, concluded that Qi had severe mental illness, most likely schizophrenia or untreated psychosis. One evaluation also noted that he had injured himself while in the Orange County jail.
