Convicted ‘ice’ trafficker files malpractice suit vs lawyer

A Chinese national slapped with a 28-year prison term in 2011 for trafficking methamphetamine or “ice” has filed a legal malpractice suit against his former counsel, Stephen C. Woodruff, after learning more than a year later that the now disbarred lawyer failed to file a notice of appeal.

Believing that an appeal was being processed, Qun Yu, also known as Papasang, said he had no contact with Woodruff for over a year, although he attempted to contact him several times.

The Superior Court has appointed attorney Stephen J. Nutting as Yu’s new counsel.

Early this week, Nutting filed in court a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Nutting also filed a motion for certification to file an appeal due to the ineffective assistance of counsel received resulting from Woodruff’s failure to timely file an appeal.

Nutting said Woodruff’s failure to file a notice of appeal constituted ineffective assistance of counsel and legal malpractice.

When asked for comments, Woodruff said yesterday there was no ineffective assistance of counsel in this case.

“It is true that I never filed a notice of appeal; however, the rules expressly provide that the time for filing an appeal does not begin to run until the last post-trial motion is decided,” Woodruff said.

He said he brought two post-trial motions in Yu’s case: one for a new trial, and the other for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the jury’s verdict.

He said the court denied the motion for a new trial and, to his knowledge, did not enter an order denying the motion for judgment of acquittal.

Woodruff said the statement in Nutting’s papers that Yu had no contact with him for over a year is “flat out false.”

Yu was convicted in April 2011 of two counts of trafficking of a controlled substance, one count of conspiracy to commit trafficking of a controlled substance, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of resisting arrest. Associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Yu to 28 years in prison.

In his declaration to support the petition and motion, Yu said after his trial and sentencing, he told Woodruff that he wanted to appeal the matter.

Yu said Woodruff told him he would file an appeal and that it would take a year or more to complete.

More than a year after his conviction, Yu said he was finally able to discuss his appeal with Woodruff. He said Woodruff told him that he had failed to file the notice of appeal and it was now too late to appeal his sentence or conviction.

“I have since learned that Mr. Woodruff has been disbarred from the practice of law in the Northern Mariana Islands,” he said.

After learning that his appeal had not been filed, Yu said he contacted the court to ask that another lawyer be appointed to handle his case. Yu said he also filed a complaint with the CNMI Bar Association against Woodruff for malpractice.

Yu said that after discussing his legal options with Nutting over the course of several meetings, he asked Nutting to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and to certify his case for appeal, due to Woodruff’s failure to timely file a notice of appeal. Wiseman set a hearing on Yu’s petition and motion for Sept. 17, 2014 at 1:30pm.