A New Taipei court handed a life sentence, not death, to a man who killed his wife and her sister on the street, angering the victims' family and testing Taiwan's tightened rules for capital punishment.

• Hsieh Wen-hsiung rammed the two women with his car, then attacked them with a kitchen knife and a metal bat until both bled to death.
• He had already been under a protection order for hitting his wife, and had broken it weeks before the killings.
• Prosecutors asked for death, but the court said it could not prove the murders were planned in advance or that he was highly likely to kill again.
• Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruling from 2024 now allows death only in the very worst cases, decided by unanimous professional judges plus a two-thirds vote including lay judges.
• The victims' family said they will appeal for as long as they live.

Outlook: The case is expected to go to appeal, and it will be an early test of how narrow Taiwan's death penalty has become in practice.