A FEDERAL jury on Friday afternoon found Lili Zhang Tydingco guilty of harboring a minor alien.
Her attorney Bruce Berline said they will again appeal the verdict.
“This is our third try, and the jury found my client guilty,” he added. “We will certainly appeal. We believe there’s basis for an appeal and we will keep fighting.”
Berline said “the main issue was…there were a couple of witnesses who were called [in the trial]…who did not have any knowledge or personal recollections of what they are testifying to.”
After the announcement of the verdict, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI scheduled sentencing for Nov. 18, at 9 a.m.
Without objections, the defendant remained on release and will continue to abide by the previously imposed terms and conditions, Judge Manglona added.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garth Backe and Albert Flores Jr. appeared for the federal government and, during the trial, called five witnesses including the minor (who recently turned 18 years old).
This is the third time that the defendant has been tried on the charge of harboring a minor alien.
In June 2016, Tydingco and her husband, Francisco Muna Tydingco, were convicted of harboring a 10-year-old girl they brought from China in 2013.
The jury found Mrs. Tydingco guilty of harboring an alien and Mr. Tydingco guilty of aiding and abetting his wife.
On Dec. 9, 2016, Mrs. Tydingco was sentenced to 10 months of imprisonment while Mr. Tydingco was sentenced to 21 months of imprisonment.
The Tydingcos then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which remanded their conviction for a new trial. The Ninth Circuit judges said the jury could have convicted the defendants on an invalid theory.
On May 10, 2019, the U.S. government opted not to pursue the charge against Mr. Tydingco and asked the federal court to dismiss the case against him.
But the U.S. government refiled a superseding indictment against Mrs. Tydingco, charging her with harboring an illegal minor alien.
In September 2019, following two and a half hours of deliberation, jurors found Mrs. Tydingco guilty of one count of harboring a minor alien.
On June 17, 2020, Judge Manglona sentenced Mrs. Tydingco to 90 days of imprisonment for harboring a minor alien.
The defendant appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In February 2022, the Ninth Circuit once again reversed her conviction and remanded the case to the District Court.
