U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona yesterday granted the continued release pending appeal as requested by Quiong Lu Pua, a woman who was slapped with a 12-month and one day imprisonment for orchestrating two sham marriages so that her brother and friend could obtain green cards.<\/p>\n
Manglona ruled after hearing the parties\u2019 arguments that by clear and convincing evidence Pua is not a flight risk.<\/p>\n
Manglona also found that Pua\u2019s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was not filed for the purpose of delay.<\/p>\n
The judge determined that defendant\u2019s contentions with respect to her sentencing range pursuant to the U.S. sentencing guidelines raised a substantial question of law that had not yet been addressed by the Ninth Circuit.<\/p>\n
Manglona also found that if Pua prevails on her appeal, a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than the total of time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal would be likely.<\/p>\n
Last July 31, a federal jury found Pua guilty of the charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. She was sentenced last January 29. <\/p>\n
Pua, through counsel Mark B. Hanson, appealed to the Ninth Circuit to reverse the District Court\u2019s denial of her motion for a judgment to acquit her of all charges.<\/p>\n
She is also asking the Ninth Circuit to reverse the District Court\u2019s findings and application of the U.S. sentencing guidelines and the 12-month and one day prison sentence imposed on her.<\/p>\n
Pua likewise has filed a motion requesting the District Court to allow her release pending the outcome of her appeal to the Ninth Circuit.<\/p>\n
Pua is currently out of custody on conditions pending notification by the U.S. Marshal Service that the Bureau of Prisons has designated a facility and that she is to report to begin serving her term of incarceration.<\/p>\n
In Pua\u2019s motion for continued release, Hanson argued that in light of the nature and substance of the issues raised on appeal, the court should grant defendant\u2019s continued release pending a decision by the Ninth Circuit on the appeal.<\/p>\n
Hanson said Pua\u2019s minor son resides with her in Guam and the U.S. Probation Office has possession of the son\u2019s passport so therefore, she does not pose a risk of flight.<\/p>\n
Hanson said Pua is not a danger to the community as she was not convicted of a crime of violence.<\/p>\n
The lawyer added that neither defendant\u2019s appeal nor this motion for release are for purposes of delay.<\/p>\n
Hanson said the testimonial and documentary evidence in this case does not suggest beyond a reasonable doubt that Pua became a member of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. <\/p>\n
In the U.S. government\u2019s opposition, assistant U.S. attorney Russell H. Lorfing disclosed, among other things, that Pua has $70,000 in unexplained income deposited in her account in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n
Lorfing said with her money, the defendant has the financial means to flee. He said the defendant\u2019s ties to a foreign country, extensive contacts in China, and the significant sums of unexplained income suggest the real possibility that she is a flight risk.<\/p>\n
Pua\u2019s court-appointed counsel Hanson and co-counsel, Benjamin Petersburg, appeared at yesterday\u2019s hearing. Pua was not in court as Judge Manglona granted her request to waive her appearance.<\/p>\n
According to the minutes of the hearing, U.S. Probation Officer Stephen Guilliot informed the court that Pua has been compliant and is currently on home detention with location monitoring. <\/p>\n
Guilliot also disclosed that their office has custody of Pua\u2019s and her son\u2019s passports. <\/p>\n
Petersburg argued for Pua\u2019s motion for release pending appeal. Lorfing argued the U.S. government\u2019s opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona yesterday granted the continued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[93,10319,1925,10320],"class_list":["post-223184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-district-court","tag-judge-manglona","tag-ninth-circuit","tag-quiong-lu-pua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}