Suspected ‘ice’ supplier possibly suffering from brain injury

Yu Hua Wang, the alleged second in command of an organization of drug suppliers on Saipan, has been complaining of severe headaches and pain while in detention, affecting his understanding of documents that were being reviewed with him by his lawyer.

Attorney Robert T. Torres, court-appointed counsel for Wang, disclosed that Wang’s pretrial services evaluation indicates a traumatic brain injury from an assault several years ago.

On Thursday, Torres asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to order a competency examination to evaluate Wang’s ability to understand the proceedings and assist his attorney with his case.

“Because Wang’s mental competency is at issue, he requests that the deadline to file any pretrial motions and the jury trial, currently set for Sept. 22, 2014, at 9am, be vacated until the results of any examination are provided and after the competency hearing, if any,” the lawyer said.

At Friday’s hearing on the motion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Garth Backe, counsel for the U.S. government, did not object.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona approved the competency evaluation and set the competency hearing on Oct. 29, 2014.

Manglona also vacated the jury trial on Sept. 22, 2014, and any other deadlines imposed until the evaluation of Wang’s competency is completed.

In his motion, Torres said since he started representing Wang in this case, Wang has been complaining of severe headaches and pain.
He said court-appointed translator Jean Shi has had to review and translate documents several times due to Wang’s difficulty in understanding and following the documents being reviewed with him.

Recently, Torres said, Wang and other family members reiterated a growing concern about his headaches and pain.

Torres said that, upon being told of those concerns, Don Hall of the U.S. Marshals Service stated that Wang would be given treatment after his sentencing but that the Department of Corrections did have a physician who had evaluated Wang and did not recommend any further referral for treatment.

Torres said Shi went to DOC on Wednesday to translate a proposed document to Wang, during which Wang told Shi that he could not think and could not understand anything due to his severe head pain and headaches.

Torres said he relayed this to the U.S. Marshals Service for possible further determination as to Wang’s condition.

Torres said that on Thursday at 8am, he, along with Shi, visited Wang to ascertain his condition. In that meeting, Wang related his inability to understand any document being translated, that he could not think, and that he could not make any decision.

Wang reported that he has severe head pain and that he had fainted at DOC on a couple of occasions.

Torres said a person may not be tried for an offense if, at any time during the proceedings, the defendant lacks capacity to consult with his attorney “with a reasonable degree of rational understanding” as well as be able to understand the facts and nature of his case.

Torres asked for the mental competency examination to be conducted by a licensed forensic psychiatrist, and if necessary, by more than one such examiner. If necessary, Torres asked that Wang be temporarily placed in a psychiatric or treatment facility for the examination for a period not to exceed 45 days.

Wang has already been told that Dr. Jeremy Richards, a Commonwealth Health Center psychiatrist, may be available to conduct this examination or Dr. Laura Post of Marianas Psychiatric Services.

Last March, Manglona ordered Wang’s continued detention, pending further proceedings of his case.

Manglona established that based on evidence presented, Wang poses a flight risk as she also noted that the big amount of methamphetamine or “ice” (135.6 gross grams) involved in the case implicates a serious punishment.

Wang has a daughter who was last reported to be in the custody of the Division of Youth Services.

Wang was among seven persons arrested in February for alleged “ice” distribution. He pleaded not guilty.