THE ‘BOAT PEOPLE’ TRIAL 4 acquitted, 2 convicted

The jury that heard the alien smuggling trial at the US District Court of Saipan yesterday acquitted four and convicted two of the six defendants accused of bringing undocumented aliens into the US territory.

The jury returned the verdict after a three-day deliberation.

Each of the six defendants were charged with conspiracy to smuggle aliens, alien smuggling for financial gain, and attempting to smuggle aliens into a place other than a designated port.

He Xi Di, Shi Guo Rui, Gao Liang, He Xiu Jin were found innocent of all charges.

Xue Jian Hui was found guilty of the second offense, but cleared from charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling attempt.

Shi Peng was found guilty of all the charges.

Xue and Shi will be sent back to jail in Guam, while awaiting the sentencing which is scheduled for Jan 18, 2000.

Federal Judge Alex Munson remanded the four acquitted defendants to the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Guam.

The four would soon be summoned back to the court — but not as defendants. They have assumed a new role. This time, they would be material witnesses for another defendant, Gao Xing, who is facing a separate trial for the same charges.

Gao’s attorney Darrin Class has asked the court to place his 16-year-old client under juvenile proceedings.

Before the verdict was read yesterday afternoon, Munson held a separate hearing in the morning during which he granted Class’ motion to keep the defendants detained as material witnesses for Gao.

Class pointed out that since China does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, “it would be impossible” to secure testimonies from the defendants if they were repatriated.

Class believes the defendants would help Gao in his defense.

Lawyers of the four acquitted defendants said they were “extremely happy” with the jury’s verdict.

“It was very fair. The verdict was a product of long hours of testimonies. It was a very good decision,” said Ben Salas, who represented Gao Liang.

“The jury acquitted most of these people because they saw that they were innocent. They were just trying to get to the United States,” said Bruce Berline, lawyer for He Xi Di.

Berline said the US government could have spared itself from the costly litigation had it decided to repatriate all the 51 passengers found on the boat.

Berline, and Linda Wingenbaugh, attorney for He Xiu Jin, said they believed all along that there was no evidence to convict their respective clients.

Berline said “there were several witnesses that I felt were extremely evasive and did not come across as believable.”

Some of the witnesses, Berline added, were “completely uncooperative when it was the defense attorneys’ turn to question them. The jury saw that they were not telling the truth.”

“The jury also saw the same thing,” Wingenbaugh said.

“The duck won!” lawyer William Campbell quipped, referring to his closing piece in which he made use of a wood duck figurine as a visual metaphor to stress an argument.

“I’m glad that we have a very attentive jury and good court, otherwise the trial would have not gone this smooth considering how complicated the case was. Justice was done,” said Campbell, attorney for Shi Guo Ri.

Campbell and Berline expressed hopes their clients get the same privileges given by the US government to the material witnesses who had testified against them during the trial.

“He came on the boat, trying to get over here like everybody else. I hope INS treats him like they treated other material witnesses now that he was found completely innocent,” Berline said, referring to his client.

Campbell said lawyers of the four acquitted defendants will file a joint motion to ensure that their clients are treated well while in the custody of INS.

“We’ll make sure they get good accommodations and proper compensation received by the previous material witnesses,” Campbell said.

Each of the six material witnesses who testified against six defendants was paid $128 a day and accommodated at Aquarius Condominium throughout the trial period.

Assistant US Attorney Gregory Baka said he was “happy that two major defendants were convicted.” (MCM)