Mohammad Jahangir Miah has asked the federal court to proceed with his sentencing in connection with his conviction in the driver's license scam at the Department of Public Safety.
Miah, through counsel Colin Thompson, requested the U.S. District Court for the NMI to deny the U.S. government's motion to declare him in breach of plea agreement.
Miah on Monday filed his opposition to the U.S. government's motion to declare him in breach of plea agreement. He also filed a motion to continue his sentencing hearing.
According to Thompson, Miah was acquitted at trial of the offense(s) for which the government seeks to prove as the basis for finding him in breach of the plea agreement.
“As a consequence of a finding of breach, the government desires to void its obligations concerning the dismissal of criminal counts and imposition of punishment. The Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits the government's intended actions,” Thompson said.
In August 2011, Miah pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to unlawfully produce and transfer identification documents. His original sentencing date was Nov. 15, 2011.
The defendant's sentencing was postponed several times for various reasons, including his indictment in a case of conspiracy to forge stale CNMI tax refund checks. Miah's charges in that case were subsequently dismissed. His co-defendant Earl Eric Mirano was found guilty.
Assistant U.S. attorney Garth R. Backe filed in March 2012 a motion asking the federal court to declare Miah in breach of the plea agreement.
Backe argued that the plea agreement expressly stated that, should defendant “engage in criminal conduct after the entry of his plea agreement and before sentencing,” the government would then be “free from its obligations under the agreement.”
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