Chinese graduate student Chen Danlei has been sentenced to death with a two-year suspension for murdering her husband when they were in the United States.

The verdict came from the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court on Monday.

Chen, 29, was also required to pay her parents-in-law 440,000 yuan (US$55,000) in compensation.

During the previous trial, Chen had pleaded guilty to killing her husband.

Chen shot He Lei, also in his late 20s, in the back of the head on August 20, 2005, at their apartment in Lafayette, Indiana. She then placed He's cut up body parts in their car and left the vehicle in a hotel car park before escaping, the court heard.

Chen told the court during the hearing that she had hired someone named Jack to move He's body into the refrigerator after the shooting but Jack cut him up into eight pieces instead, without her instruction.

But there has been no evidence for the existence of Jack.

Chen Danlei and He Lei were classmates at Tsinghua University in Beijing. They got married in 2001 when they moved to the United States for further studies at Purdue University.

Chen told the court she loved He very much and He was always loyal to her. But later He wanted to divorce her after they argued a lot.

On December 25, 2004, Chen stabbed He. Local media said she did it during sexual intercourse.

At that time, He hired a lawyer to defend Chen and bailed her out of jail with US$50,000. The local court issued an order forbidding Chen to approach He unless for therapeutic consultations. A few months later they lived together at the suggestion of a therapist.

However, the court heard that their arguments began again and He threatened divorce again. Chen bought a gun over the Internet on August 18, 2005, under the name of Jack Washington. The seller Christopher Michael Land provided an affidavit to the court.

On the evening of August 19, 2005, the couple had a serious fight and He threatened to move out. Chen shot him the next morning.

Chen told the court she wanted to put He's body in the refrigerator when it started to smell, but could not. She then said she found someone named Jack from the Internet and agreed to pay him US$2,000 to do the job for her.

Chen said she wanted to visit her mother's tomb at her hometown in Sichuan Province. She was arrested when she arrived in Shanghai on August 26, 2005.

China sent a team to the United States in November 2005 to take over all the evidence and conduct further investigations.

If Chen behaves in the next two years, she may escape the death penalty.

(China Daily September 6, 2006)