CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has denied the request of Shuo Qiu, also known as Ike, to suppress and exclude evidence obtained by the authorities during his arrest in January 2020 at a hotel.
The judge, however, granted the oral motion by the defendant’s attorney for a continuance.
The judge scheduled Qui’s jury trial for April 25, 2023 at 10 a.m., vacating the previous trial scheduled for Oct. 4, 2022.
She also set a status conference for Jan. 11, 2023 at 9 a.m.
At a hearing on Sept. 7, Qiu was represented by attorneys Robert Torres and Charity Hodson while Assistant U.S. Attorney Garth Backe appeared for the federal government.
After the hearing, the defendant was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals and was detained at the Department of Corrections.
According to Qiu’s motion, the search warrant issued for Room No. 639 lacked probable cause for its issuance, and the items seized as a result of the illegal search must be excluded.
The motion also noted that police also searched another hotel room he rented, No. 339, without a warrant, “and the evidence seized therefrom must be excluded.”
On Jan. 12, 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant and seized 1.6 pounds of methamphetamine, an undetermined amount of cash, and two handguns with ammunition from Qiu in the hotel room where he had been staying for six months prior to the search.
Qiu was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Qiu, in a freely given statement to the DEA through an interpreter, stated that he was mainly supplied by two people who would give him between 100 grams and 500 grams, depending on how his sales had been.
Qiu also said he had, “more local customers than anyone on island.”
He claimed that he was a cooperating informer of the Department of Public Safety-Drug Enforcement Task Force.
