Tydingco found guilty anew of harboring minor alien

The third jury trial for a woman who was previously found guilty of harboring a minor alien has ended with a jury unanimously finding her guilty.

Last Friday, a 12-member jury unanimously found Lili Zhang Tydingco guilty—again—of one count of harboring an illegal alien after a trial at the U.S. District Court for the NMI

Tydingco was found guilty twice for the same crime she was found guilty back in June 2016, then again on September 2019.

After the verdict was read, District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona ordered Tydingco to return to court for her sentencing on Nov. 18, at 9am.

Without objections, Tydingco was allowed to remain released as long as she abides by the court’s previously imposed terms and conditions.

In a brief comment from Tydingco’s lawyer Bruce Berline, he said he intends to appeal and continue to fight the charges.

“This is our third try and the jurors found Ms. Tydingco guilty and we will certainly appeal. We believe there is basis to appeal and we’ll keep fighting. The main issue is that there were a couple of witnesses who were called that didn’t have any knowledge or personal recollection of the events that they were testifying to and that would probably one of the main issues of the appeal,” he said.

In June 2016, a federal court jury found Lili Tydingco guilty of one count of harboring an illegal alien and found her husband, Francisco Tydingco, guilty of aiding and abetting the harboring for concealing a child who entered the CNMI and remained here in violation of the law.

In December 2016, Lili Tydingco was sentenced to 10 months in prison, while Francisco Tydingco was sentenced to a 21-month imprisonment term. Both were given credit for time served. The Tydingcos appealed.

Then, in 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed their convictions and remanded the case to the District Court for a new trial. The U.S. government subsequently dropped the case against Francisco Tydingco on May 10, 2019. However, the U.S. government refiled a superseding indictment against Lili Tydingco, again charging her with harboring an illegal minor alien. In September 2019, following two and a half hours of deliberation, jurors found Lili Tydingco guilty of one count of harboring a minor alien.

On June 17, 2020, Manglona sentenced Lili Tydingco to 90 days’ imprisonment for harboring a minor alien.
The defendant appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals again.

Then on February 2022, the Ninth Circuit, yet again, reversed her conviction and remanded the case back to the district court.