Superseding indictment filed vs woman suspected of harboring an illegal alien

A federal grand jury returned yesterday a superseding indictment against a woman whose convictions with her husband over allegations that they harbored an illegal alien child was reversed by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The superseding indictment charged Lili Zhang Tydingco with one count of harboring an illegal alien.

A superseding indictment replaces a previous indictment.

According to the superseding indictment, beginning Nov. 5, 2013, until Feb. 19, 2015, Tydingco concealed a child, who entered the CNMI and remained here in violation of the law.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona recently granted the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the case against Lili Tydingco’s husband, Francisco Muna Tydingco. The dismissal was without prejudice, which mean the U.S. government may re-file the indictment against Francis Tydingco.

In the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss, assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe said under Rule 48 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the courts “must grant leave to the government to dismiss an indictment, information, or complaint unless dismissal is clearly contrary to manifest public interest.”

Last April 26, the parties, through their lawyers, jointly asked the court to postpone the trial from its current date of June 18, 2019, to July 9, 2019. Manglona granted the request.

Manglona originally set the matter for re-trial on April 30, 2019.

A federal grand jury previously indicted the Tydingco couple for allegedly receiving money to harbor two illegal Chinese aliens, including a child they enrolled at a public school.

In June 2016, a federal court jury rendered a unanimous guilty verdict finding Lili Tydingco guilty of one count of harboring an alien and Francis Tydingco guilty of aiding and abetting the harboring.

In December 2016, Manglona sentenced Lili Tydingco to 10 months imprisonment with credit for time served. She sentenced Francis Tydingco to 21 months imprisonment, with credit for time served.

The Tydingcos, through their respective lawyers, Steven Pixley and Bruce Berline, appealed to the Ninth Circuit to reverse their conviction and vacate their sentence.

In the order issued last year that reversed the convictions, the Ninth Circuit judges held that Manglona’s instruction defining “harbor” was erroneous because it did not require the jury to find that the Tydingcos intended to violate the law, and the error was not harmless.

With the reversal of the convictions, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the District Court for a new trial.