CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has denied Hongjiang Yang’s renewed motion for judgment of acquittal while granting Meifang Weng’s motion.
Last year, a federal jury found Yang and Weng guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting transportation of illegal aliens. A third defendant, Yang’s wife, Xiulan Huang, was found not guilty by the jury.
The jury also did not found Yang and Weng guilty of the charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Following their conviction, Yang and Weng, through their attorneys, renewed their motion for judgment of acquittal, arguing that “neither of them had an agreement with anyone to transport illegal aliens.”
Attorney Cong Nie represented Yang, while Richard Miller represented Weng.
In a 24-page memorandum order issued on Wednesday, Judge Manglona said “the jury’s verdict finding Yang guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting transportation stands…. As for the jury’s verdict finding Weng guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting transportation, the verdict is set aside, and a judgment of acquittal shall be entered.”
The order noted that “the evidence was insufficient to support that Weng had an agreement with another individual to transport an alien other than herself.”
Judge Manglona also found that “Yang did not simply purchase or pool his money with others to secure his own passage to Guam. Rather, Yang attended meetings with the intent to gain transport for both himself and his wife to Guam….”
Yang’s sentencing is scheduled for March 14 at 9 a.m.
Prior to the jury trial, the defendants requested the court to dismiss the superseding indictment, saying it “does not allege that each defendant was more than a mere passenger and intended to further the illegal presence of another illegal alien.” This was rejected by the court.
According to the indictment, “In or about late June or early July 2023, [Yang, Weng, Huang] and others created, joined, and abetted a scheme to transport eight aliens, as well as Defendants, from the District of the Northern Mariana Islands to the Territory of Guam, with the intent that the aliens would reside in Guam, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that seven of the aliens were illegally present in the United States, including in the District of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the eighth alien had no authority to enter or reside in Guam or any part of the United States other than the District of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
