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Man who has evaded bench warrants faces sentencing
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Posted on Sep 04 2020
A man who was found guilty of multiple charges still faces the possibility of sentencing despite failed attempts to apprehend him and bring him before the court.
The prosecution in the case against Jiang Hong Sheng has asked the Superior Court to continue his sentencing in absentia.
To date, Sheng has not been apprehended nor turned himself in and therefore has not been sentenced.
Prior to trial and during the pendency between conviction and sentencing, Sheng was released on a cash bail of $6,250 but when he failed to appear for the March 26, 2019 sentencing hearing, a bench warrant was issued.
On July 21, 2020, the court reissued a bench warrant against Sheng for his failure to appear, and set no bail.
However, because there has been no order issued since then, the Commonwealth, represented by assistant attorney general J. Robert Glass Jr. renewed its motion to sentence Sheng.
Both parties in the case submitted sentencing memos on March 26, 2020, and a sentencing hearing was set for March 31, 2020, but it was vacated and delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Jan. 21, 2020, the court determined that it would sentence Sheng in absentia and set a date for the hearing and deadline for the parties to submit sentencing memos.
Sheng’s jury trial was held in May 2018, and he was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and disturbing the peace.
On May 25, 2018, the defendant filed a post-conviction motion for a judgment of acquittal, which the court denied.
The following month, the defendant filed a notice of appeal alleging various trial issues for appeal. On Nov. 6, 2019, the appeal was dismissed because there was no final judgement from which the defendant could appeal.
Sentencing was set for Nov. 27, 2018, but because of the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Yutu back in October 2018, and the time it took for the Office of Adult Probation to prepare the pre-investigation report, the sentencing was reset for March 26, 2019.
