THE jury trial of Wenliang Ma, who was arrested on Guam on June 23, 2024, has been scheduled for Jan. 14, 2025.
Ma was indicted with other defendants on the charge of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.
In July 2024, Ma, through his court-appointed attorney Mark Hanson, pled not guilty.
At a pretrial conference on Dec. 20, 2024, Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr., the prosecutor, informed the court that the federal government intends to call three to four witnesses, and will not require interpreters. He will also not call any expert witnesses.
Flores said the prosecution’s case-in-chief will take one day.
District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona ordered the parties to file their trial briefs under seal.
She said the briefs will be automatically unsealed upon jury empanelment.
In response to the court’s inquiry regarding the defendant’s court appearance, Hanson said his client has made arrangements for travel and housing during the trial.
The prosecution will file its proposed jury instruction two weeks before the trial, while the defense will file its proposed jury instructions one week before the trial.
Judge Manglona said each party will have 15 minutes to voir dire or question potential jurors.
The indictment
According to the indictment, on or about July 29, 2022, “defendants pooled money together to purchase a boat for $32,000 on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The boat, which is approximately 26 feet in length with a white fiberglass hull and motorized propeller, with CNMI boat registration number CM 0057 CP, was used by the eight defendants, and one additional Chinese citizen who did not have lawful immigration status, to complete transportation from the CNMI to Guam on or about July 31, 2022. A boat was used for transportation because the Chinese citizens wanted to avoid immigration processes that were anticipated if travel was completed by commercial airplane. Authorities located the boat in the Hagåtña Boat Basin in Guam after it came ashore to Guam from the CNMI with all nine Chinese citizens on July 31, 2022.”
The Chinese nationals accused of illegally entering Guam by boat are believed to have no valid U.S. visas, the indictment stated.
Xiaojuan Sun pled guilty on Nov. 30, 2022; Weifu Zhang and Bingxing Gao pled guilty on Nov. 17, 2022; Suling Jin pled guilty on Nov. 28, 2022; and Liangxian Zhang pled guilty on Dec. 5, 2022.
On Jan. 24, 2023, Xiaojuan Sun, Suling Jin, Weifu Zhang, Bingxing Gao, Liangxian Zhang were sentenced to time served.
The five defendants were also placed on two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a special assessment fee of $100.
In addition, they were required to perform 50 hours of community service in lieu of fine, but this requirement shall be waived if the defendants voluntarily depart within the time frame pursuant to the plea agreement.
There was no information regarding defendants Shougao Liu and Xiaohui Zhu.
