‘Papasang’ gets 28-year sentence for ‘ice’ trafficking

A Chinese national tagged by authorities as a big-time “ice” supplier was slapped with a 28-year prison sentence yesterday after being found guilty of all 10 charges.

The 45-year-old Qun Yu was also directed to pay a $10,000 fine and $100 court assessment fee.

Superior Court associate judge David A. Wiseman said the mandatory 25 years imprisonment for trafficking of a controlled substance is not unreasonable in view of the egregiousness of Yu’s acts and the danger he presents to the community.

The judge cited how Yu engaged lawmen in a high speed car chase along Middle Road from Gualo Rai to Sadog Tasi and then south to Chalan Kiya as they were about to arrest him on Aug. 4, 2010. Yu’s Toyota Land Cruiser later crashed into a septic tank.

During the pursuit, Yu, who is also known as Papasang or Jay, was seen waving a pistol in the car, Wiseman said.

Yu does not have a prior criminal convictions but he was charged in 2007 with six counts of drug related crimes. The government dismissed the 2007 case due to the difficulties in retrieving key evidence.

On April 29, 2011, the jury found Yu guilty of two counts of trafficking of a controlled substance, one count of conspiracy to commit trafficking of a controlled substance, and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Wiseman, who decided the four charges, found him guilty of two counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of resisting arrest.

During yesterday’s sentencing, Wiseman said the maximum total sentence is 117 years if the court were to issue maximum and consecutive sentences.

If the mandatory sentence were to run consecutively, it would be a total of 75 years, the judge pointed out.

Wiseman said the Legislature finds the use of dangerous, highly addictive narcotic substances has become an epidemic in the CNMI.

“In the Legislature’s opinion, it has become necessary to impose severe penalties on those who, without conscience, would so prey on our society as to threaten its very survival,” the judge said.

Assistant attorney general Tiberius Mocanu had recommended 50 years imprisonment, while Yu’s lawyer, Stephen Woodruff, pushed for two years with credit for time served.

After the hearing, Woodruff told the media that Yu’s case will be appealed as there are a number of issues from the trial that will make appeal well founded. “The evidence for the trafficking charges is particularly weak against Mr. Yu. He did not actually make any of the sale. He did not personally,” he said.

The conspiracy count, Woodruff said, was much stronger because Yu was assisting co-defendant Zhang Ling.

Mocanu on the other hand said he feels that justice was served.

“I believe that really methamphetamine is an epidemic. We see a lot of meth cases,” said Mocanu. “In this case, I believe that the defendant was a total serious risk to the community. He led police in a high speed chase, throwing methamphetamine out of the window, with complete disregard to anyone’s safety that was on the road that day.”

According to the prosecution, Yu sold a total of 2.5 grams of “ice” to a “cooperating defendant” on Aug. 3 and 4, 2010.

Yu managed to escape during a car chase with CNMI Drug Task Force members and detectives along Middle Road in Gualo Rai near Subway to Chalan Kiya on Aug. 4.

When Yu’s Toyota Land Cruiser crashed into a septic tank outside a house in Chalan Kiya, he jumped out and fled into the jungle.

Yu’s girlfriend, Zhang Ling, and the “cooperating defendant” were in the vehicle and were arrested.

In the subsequent search at Yu’s residence, task force agents reportedly seized over 540 grams or half a kilo of “ice.” After testing, the substance turned out to be sugar.

On Aug. 25, 2010, Yu was arrested after a man spotted him in Marpi. He appeared to be disoriented and dehydrated.