SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has rejected the government’s plea agreement with Yuzhu Zhang, saying it’s “too lenient.”
The defendant is accused of attempting to smuggle from California, through the mail, 4.9 pounds of methamphetamine or “ice.” The seized methamphetamine contraband had a street value of approximately $700,000, authorities said.
Zhang, 48, was charged with importation of contraband, trafficking, and possession of a controlled substance.
According to the plea agreement, he would be sentenced to 10 years in prison with eight years to serve. Zhang would be eligible for parole after serving five years.
“The Court rejects the plea agreement terms as too lenient. The people of the CNMI deserve to have a safe community,” Judge Camacho said in his order dated March 3, 2023.
“There can be no justice without the appropriate punishment,” he added. “The jail sentence under the proposed plea agreement fails to conform to the standards of this Court and the CNMI community and does not account for the defendant’s criminal offense based on the allege facts and factors for a careful and individualize sentence.”
In a separate order, Judge Camacho ordered court marshals to continue serving the jury summons for the jury trial set for March 27, 2023 at 9 a.m.
In rejecting the plea agreement, the judge said, “To accept this plea agreement between the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Public Defender is to send the wrong message: That criminals can deal in the illegal substance of ice weighing almost 5 lbs. and have a street value of about $700,000 and the consequence if you are caught is only a few years in jail and a plane ticket back home to be with your family.”
Judge Camacho noted that the AG’s office and OPD asked the court to accept the plea agreement because it would cost money to house Zhang at the Department of Corrections and that after serving his sentence, “the Defendant will most likely be deported back to his home country of China.”
But Judge Camacho said “several defendants are currently serving sentences of 1 to 2 years for 1/2 a gram of the illegal substance of meth also known as ice with a street value of about $100.”
Zhang is alleged to have been involved in almost 5 lbs. of “ice” with a street value of approximately $700,000, the judge added, but would serve five years of a 25-year possible sentence, and then be eligible for parole.
As to the parties’ second reason, that it would cost money to house the defendant at Corrections, Judge Camacho said, “This reason is so unpersuasive.”
In effect, he added, “the parties’ argument amounts to close the prison and release convicted criminals because it costs money to house them.”
Although Zhang would most likely be deported to his home country of China after serving his sentence, the judge said, “deportation is not a criminal penalty,” and in a criminal case, “deportation does not carry any weight.”
In effect, the judge said, “to sum up the parties’ argument: A person can bring almost a million dollars of the illegal poison known as ‘ice’ into the CNMI, profit from the misery of many CNMI families that deal with family members who are addicts, as well as the numerous negative community impact of theft, burglaries, domestic violence and other crimes. And, if by chance, an individual gets caught dealing with millions of dollars’ worth of ice, the result is only a few years in jail and they will get a free plane ticket back to their home country to be with their families.”
Zhang was represented by the Public Defender’s Office while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Zhang, through an interpreter, told police investigators that an unknown male offered him $100 to pick up a large parcel of chinaware at a Garapan postal service and to bring it to the back of a Mobil gas station on Beach Road.
Zhang also stated that the $4,239 in cash found inside his vehicle was his, but not the 19 small clear plastic bags containing methamphetamine weighing 26.3 grams.
Investigators stated that the cash and meth found in Zhang’s vehicle were strong indications that he was a drug distributor and trafficker.
