SPC circuit court in Liaoning finally ruled that the original conviction had been made based on unclear facts and they found Nie not guilty. Legal scholars have been advocating for greater use of the trial supervision procedures by the SPC in cases of alleged miscarriages of justice. To make the trial supervision procedure relevant in death penalty cases, China would need to introduce the procedure prior to the formal SPC approval and provide lawyers with a mechanism to request the SPC to initiate the procedures. Such a reform in the current situation is unlikely unless a new high profile miscarriage of justice case comes to light and the SPC review process itself becomes more meaningful. 50