Tang Yee-Chun v. Immundi

686 F. Supp. 1004, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11949, 1987 WL 46334
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 28, 1987
Docket87 Civ. 8652 (ELP), 87 Civ. 8653 (ELP)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 686 F. Supp. 1004 (Tang Yee-Chun v. Immundi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tang Yee-Chun v. Immundi, 686 F. Supp. 1004, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11949, 1987 WL 46334 (S.D.N.Y. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION

PALMIERI, District Judge:

In an opinion and order filed November 30,1987, 674 F.Supp. 1058, this Court certi *1006 fied the extraditability of Tang Yee-Chun (“Tang”) and Chan Wai-king (“Chan”) for crimes charged by the government of Hong Kong. The discussion which follows assumes a familiarity with that opinion.

Both Tang and Chan have remained in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center since their arrest on March 6,1987. By the terms of this Court’s order of November 30, 1987 their incarceration was to continue until their surrender to the proper authorities. Tang and Chan have now challenged the legality of their continued detention by way of petitions for writs of habeas corpus.

The procedural history of this matter has been marked by petitioners’ repeated substitutions of counsel and requests for adjournment. This situation led Judge Cedarbaum of this Court to say at a hearing on August 21, 1987 that “these defendants obviously prefer to stay in the M.C.C., even in prison, rather than go back to Hong Kong”. The same comment can be made today with equal validity. The Court set down the hearing for October 19th “peremptorily, which means that there will be no further adjournments”. When the hearing finally took place on October 20, 1987, new counsel was admitted pro hac vice on motion of Tang’s attorney and it was he who took up most of the time for the petitioners. The thrust of his remarks was that the petitioners had been prejudiced by the government’s failure to file a formal complaint and to make a detailed correlation of the evidence with the charges. This was an extraordinary contention completely inconsistent with any binding precedent known to the Court as well as with the fact that neither the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure nor the Federal Rules of Evidence apply to extradition proceedings. Fed.R.Crim.P. 54(b)(5); Fed.R.Evid. 1101(d)(3).

It therefore comes as little surprise to this Court that the petitioners’ briefs contain extravagant and unsupported statements highly critical of government counsel and of this Court.

The Hearing of October 20, 1987

The hearing afforded the petitioners was in compliance with 18 U.S.C. § 3190. See Opinion, 674 F.Supp. pp. 1061 et seq.

Tang’s counsel repeatedly referred to “due process” and even went so far as to claim that in an extradition proceeding the person sought to be extradited was entitled to a presumption of innocence. 1 The Court pointed out that there could be no trial on the merits here and that the issue of guilt or innocence was a matter to be decided by the courts in Hong Kong. The statements of the Court that it would not accept affidavits were intended to address this issue. The real complaint of the petitioners is that they were not afforded a formal trial in the United States to establish their innocence. The petitioners complain that they received only one day to submit explanatory material. This does not reflect what occurred. Not only did petitioners fail to make any offer of proof at the hearing, but their request for the submission of written materials was granted, although they were given a week, not the 30 days they requested. Additionally, any misconception the petitioners may have had about the Court’s willingness to hear explanatory material should have been dispelled by the Court’s letter to all counsel dated October 26, 1987, which was read verbatim to all counsel by telephone on the morning of October 26 and which gave them an extra day:

“Having reviewed the minutes of the hearing held on October 20, 1987, I wish to clarify the statement I made that I would not accept any affidavits (transcript p. 66). I was referring to the long stated view that an extradition hearing is not to be turned into an adjudication of guilt or innocence. Eg. Glucksman v. Henkel, 221 U.S. 508, 512, [31 S.Ct. 704, *1007 705, 55 L.Ed. 830] (1911); Melia v. United States, 667 F.2d 300, 302 (2d Cir.1981). I do not wish to be understood as rejecting in advance an offer of proof containing explanatory, as opposed to contradictory, material. In making any such offer, counsel should be guided by the discussion by Judge Griesa of this Court set forth in Matter of Sindona, 450 F.Supp. 672, 684-92 (S.D.N.Y.1978), writ of habeas corpus denied sub nom Sindona v. Grant, 461 F.Supp. 199 (S.D.N.Y.1978), aff 'd, 619 F.2d 167 (2d Cir.1980) [cert. denied, 451 U.S. 912, 101 S.Ct. 1984, 68 L.Ed.2d 302 (1981)].
“The Court recognizes that this letter may put extra time pressure on counsel. Therefore, counsel for the relators and for the government are granted an extra 24 hours to submit their papers.”

Both petitioners took advantage of that clarification: Tang submitted three affidavits and one affirmation, along with many exhibits; Chan submitted an affirmation with twenty seven exhibits. But those submissions, after careful review, were not accepted because they were exculpatory, rather than explanatory, in nature. See Opinion at 1063-64, 1066-67. The Court’s refusal to accept their offers of proof is not reviewable on petitions for writs of habeas corpus. “The ‘wrongful exclusion of specific pieces of evidence, however important, does not render the detention illegal.’” Messina v. United States, 728 F.2d 77, 80 (2d Cir.1984) (quoting Collins v. Loisel, supra 259 U.S. at 316, 42 S.Ct. at 472).

The Hearing of October 29

After the hearing of October 20, 1987 it became necessary to hold another hearing and to suffer another change of attorneys, this time in behalf of Chan, because of the attached letter (Appendix A) addressed to the Court by Chan’s counsel under date of October 28, 1987. Because Chan’s attorney discovered that, without his knowledge, Chan had sworn to a self-incriminating affidavit in an attempt to exculpate Tang, he no longer felt it possible to work with Chan. The Court was constrained to hold a hearing with Chan present. This occurred on October 29. On this occasion Chan stated that her attorney had breached his ethical obligations, thereby opening the door to the entry of still another attorney.

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Bluebook (online)
686 F. Supp. 1004, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11949, 1987 WL 46334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tang-yee-chun-v-immundi-nysd-1987.