Visiting Chief Judge William H. Alsup of the Northern District of California allowed Shixu Huang, Lihua Yi, Zhanshan Zhang and Pingping Zhang to remain at liberty, and to hear arguments for their detention as moved by the prosecution.
They are facing five years maximum jail term.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Schuler who prosecuted the case, said: “I am very pleased with the verdict. It sends a clear and necessary message that this conduct is illegal to deter others from engaging in this extremely dangerous behavior in the future.”
“My thanks goes out to the Rota Department of Public Safety, the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for their great investigative and likely life-saving work on the case,” Schuler added, in an e-mail to the Variety.
Anthony Long, counsel for defendant Zhanshan Zhang, said: “Of course Mr. Zhang is disappointed with the jury verdict but he has faith in the American judicial system. Mr. Zhang anticipates filing a motion for acquittal or alternatively for a new trial.”
Another defense attorney Michael Dotts said his client Shixu Huang “is very disappointed with the jury verdict.”
“However, Mr. Huang has expressed to me that he was impressed by the judge and felt that he had been treated very fair. Also, Mr. Huang was appreciative of the jury members for having listened to all the testimony and taking their time to make a decision,” Dotts said in an e-mail to the Variety.
In China, Dotts said, Huang was arrested for taking pictures at the Tiananmen Square protests and was jailed without a trial.
When Huang got out of jail he gave an interview to French and German journalists about his experiences in jail and was promptly arrested and imprisoned again, Dotts said.
Huang came to Saipan, his lawyer said, seeking freedom and ended up in limbo with an unclear legal status and no ability to support himself.
“He tried to go to Guam to seek asylum but was unsuccessful. Out of the ordeal of the trial last week Mr. Huang learned that in the United States, the accused really do have rights. He wishes he could be a part of our country,” Dotts said.
The case, he added, presented “some novel legal issues,” such as whether travel between the CNMI and Guam can be restricted after Nov. 28, 2009, when the CNMI came under federal immigration law.
Dotts said: “It is our legal position that travel between the CNMI and Guam is now equivalent to travel between Arizona and California, or between any other two states, and therefore it was improper for Mr. Huang to have been arrested in the Rota harbor (although no one should try traveling from Rota to Guam by inflatable raft for safety reasons.) Because of these legal issues an appeal to the Ninth Circuit is likely. However, no appeal can be taken until after the defendants are sentenced in September.”
On the early morning of Jan. 30, 2010, authorities arrested the four defendants on two rubber boats while trying to enter Guam through Rota.
A fifth defendant, Jingfan Zhang, pleaded guilty to a lesser sentence, and became a cooperating defendant who testified during the trial.
