Parking violation case vs inmate is dismissed

A man whom the Office of the Attorney General had charged with a traffic offense after his vehicle was allegedly found parked and unattended in an intersection in Garapan last February turned out to be in prison since 2017.

The OAG on Friday moved to drop the traffic case against Xin Qiang Zheng for parking violation. The dismissal was without prejudice, which means the OAG may re-file the case in the future.

The OAG filed the motion to dismiss after assistant public defender Stephanie Boutsicaris, counsel for Zheng, moved last Tuesday for the dismissal of the case with prejudice.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho granted the OAG’s request to dismiss without prejudice and the case is now closed.

In Zheng’s motion to dismiss, Boutsicaris said that Zheng’s vehicle was allegedly found parked and unattended last Feb. 4, 2019. Zheng, however, has been incarcerated since May 12, 2017 and is expected to remain in custody until May 2020, Boutsicaris said.

Boutsicaris said Zheng does not believe that the prosecution will dispute that he has been in custody since May 2017 and was in custody at the time of the alleged traffic offense.

The defense counsel said defendant believes the prosecution will proceed on a theory that a registered owner of a vehicle is strictly liable for any parking violations if his vehicle is found unattended at the time of the violation.

Boutsicaris said a parking violation is not the strict liability of the registered owner. Rather, the lawyer said, vehicle ownership merely creates a prima facie presumption.

“A prima facie presumption is equivalent to a rebuttable presumption,” she said, adding that a rebuttable presumption “may be overcome by the introduction of contrary evidence.”

Here, Boutsicaris said, Zheng will be able to introduce strong contrary evidence to this presumption, and defendant does not believe the prosecution will dispute the contrary evidence.

Boutsicaris said Zheng was in custody at he time of this alleged parking violation and did not park the vehicle.

In May 2017, the OAG charged Zheng with four drug-related offenses before the Superior Court.

In August 2017, Zheng pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a controlled substance, crystal methamphetamine.

Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio sentenced Zheng to three years of imprisonment, with credit for time served (May 2017 to Oct. 18, 2017).

Kim-Tenorio ordered the defendant to serve the three-year prison term day for day, without the possibility of parole, early release.

Zeng was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.