UCLA trio unlikely to face severe punishment in China, report says

The three UCLA players arrested in China likely won't face severe punishment, based on the reported details of the situation, three experts in Chinese law told USA Today.

LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were detained earlier this week after they were accused of shoplifting sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store near the Bruins' hotel in Hangzhou, ESPN.com reported.

According to multiple reports, the three were released by police but required to remain at the hotel while the legal process unfolds, "a very good sign," one expert told USA Today.

“This shows they’re getting special treatment,” said Jerome Cohen, faculty director of New York University’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. “Normally, the Chinese do not give bail, certainly not this early in a case that they’re going to prosecute. … It usually is only given at the convenience of the police.”

Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University, concurred with Cohen, while Ira Belkin, a former federal prosecutor and adjunct professor of law at NYU who specializes in the Chinese legal system, said a key question in the case is value of the items the UCLA players are accused of stealing.

“That would determine whether the charges are criminal in nature or administrative,” Belkin wrote in an e-mail, making the point that China's legal system has two tiers of punishment for those found guilty of crimes: traditional criminal punishment, which can be harsh, and administrative punishment, which can be restitution, fines and/or days in prison.

Though much of what happened remains unclear, Cohen told USA Today that it's "extremely unlikely" the players would be imprisoned for years, as Yahoo Sports speculated soon after the news broke.

The experts agreed that President Donald Trump's visit to China, which began Wednesday, could work in the players' favor because it will put the country's legal system under a spotlight.