Ji Xinran. [File photo: 163.com]

Alejandra Guerrero, a convicted murderer of a Chinese student at University of Southern California in 2014, is scheduled to be sentenced on November 28.

Volunteers from the local Chinese community have created an online petition to collect signatures, in a bid to ask the judge to impose the maximum sentence for the defendant, China News Service reported.

The volunteers said they hope the Chinese community would speak out and express their concerns of the case and that they hope the judge will fully understand the community's apprehensions and ensure the criminal receives "due punishment."

24-year-old Chinese victim Ji Xinran was attacked with a baseball bat and a wrench in an attempted robbery by a group of strangers, as he was walking back to his apartment one night in July 2014.

Ji stumbled back to his apartment after the attack but died later.

Four teenagers, aged between 16 and 19, were charged with the murder later.

Guerrero, who was 16 at the time of the attack, was found guilty of first-degree murder, among other convictions, on October 13 this year.

She was the first of four people to be tried in the case and could face up to life in prison without parole in the upcoming sentence hearing.

The murder case has sparked an outcry for justice in the local Chinese community.

The case was not the first time that a Chinese international student had become the target of violence. In 2012, two Chinese students Wu Ying and Qu Ming were fatally shot during an attempted robbery only about one mile away from USC.

Ji's attackers have said they targeted him "because he was Chinese, he must have money."