FOLLOWING her sentencing on Jan. 18, 2023, after she was found guilty of harboring a minor alien, Lili Zhang Tydingco has appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals the judgment against her
This is Tydingco’s third appeal.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has sentenced her to 90 days in prison and ordered her to pay a $100 special assessment fee.
Tydingco’s attorney, Bruce Berline, filed the notice of appeal on Jan. 30, 2023.
In July 2022, a jury, for the third time, found Tydingco guilty of one count of harboring a minor alien.
During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garth Backe and Albert Flores Jr., appeared for the federal government and called five witnesses including the minor who has turned 18 years old since then.
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 imprisonment while Mr. Tydingco was sentenced to 21 months 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 imprisonment for harboring a minor alien.
The defendant appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which, in Feb. 2022, once again reversed her conviction and remanded the case to the District Court for the NMI.
According to the Ninth Circuit, the district court abused its discretion in admitting a sham-marriage and witness-tampering testimony during the trial.
The United States Courthouse in Gualo Rai, Saipan.
