Previous Story
Man whose doc fraud conviction was reversed gets 30-day term
A Chinese national whose conviction of immigration document fraud was reversed on appeal was sentenced to just 30 days in prison, for making a false statement to a federal agent.
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David O. Carter on Friday resentenced Wei Lin on Friday to 30 days in prison, with credit for time served. This means Lin immediately goes free as he has already served six months in prison.
Lin shall serve one year of supervised release with, among the conditions, that he will be turned over to an immigration official for deportation.
Attorney Mark Hanson, counsel for Lin, pointed out that the initial sentence ordered the defendant to pay a $300 mandatory assessment. Hanson said it should only be $100 because two of the counts have been dismissed. Carter agreed and ordered that the assessment reflects $100 with no restitution.
A federal jury found Lin guilty of two counts of document fraud due to his possession of two driver’s licenses he illegally obtained from the Department of Public Safety, and one count of making a false statement to a federal agent. U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona sentenced him to six months in prison and gave him credit for the six months he has already served in jail.
Lin appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse his conviction.
In December 2013, the Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction as to two counts of document fraud. The Ninth Circuit, however, upheld Lin’s conviction on making a false statement to a federal agent. The Ninth Circuit sent the case back to federal court.
In overturning the conviction, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a driver’s license is not considered one of the documents authorizing entry into the United States, as outlined by the law that Lin was convicted of violating.
On making a false statement matter, the Ninth Circuit said a federal agent asked Lim through a translator whether he had any “identification documents” and he said he did not, even through a duplicate license was in his wallet.
