United States v. Chang Da Liu

538 F.3d 1078, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17172, 2008 WL 3388938
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 13, 2008
Docket19-55628
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 538 F.3d 1078 (United States v. Chang Da Liu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Chang Da Liu, 538 F.3d 1078, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17172, 2008 WL 3388938 (9th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

HUG, Circuit Judge:

A jury found Ming Yan Zheng and Chang Da Liu guilty of conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking, foreign transportation for prostitution, and transportation of persons in execution of fraud. 1 The district court sentenced Zheng to 78 months imprisonment, fined her $55,000, and ordered her to pay $47,440 in restitution and a $500 assessment. The court sentenced Liu to 57 months, made him jointly and severally liable for $47,440 in restitution, and ordered him to pay a $500 assessment.

This is a consolidated direct appeal. Zheng challenges her convictions on the grounds that (1) the court lacked jurisdiction to prosecute her; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions; (3) the district court’s evidentiary rulings created reversible error; (4) there was prose-cutorial misconduct; and (4) the court failed to properly instruct the jury. Zheng also challenges her sentence on the grounds that (1) the sentencing guideline calculation was incorrect and (2) restitution was improper or was incorrectly calculated.

Liu challenges his convictions on the grounds that the court’s evidentiary rulings created reversible error.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm the district court on all challenged grounds.

Background

Zheng is a Chinese citizen who moved to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) where she met Liu. Together, Zheng and Liu opened a brothel in Saipan, the capital of the CNMI, called the Tea House. They recruited employees in Dalian, China by placing advertisements for hotel waitresses, nightclub performers, and service workers with a Chinese recruiting company. The recruitment flyer stated the employees would earn about $3,000-$4,000 per month, and applicants were required to pay $6,000 in “processing fees” to secure a position.

Chinese women, including Xuimei Chi and Wei Lian, saw these advertisements *1082 and signed agreements to become “hotel waitresses.” Chi and Lian each paid part of their $6,000 fee and arrived in Saipan in debt to Zheng. Upon arriving in Saipan, Chi, Lian, and four other young women from China were taken to housing barracks and then to the Tea House. At the Tea House, the women testified that they learned they were required to have sex with customers. The women protested but eventually submitted and worked as prostitutes in the Tea House from October 2004 to May 2005.

In June 2005, the six women went to the FBI and an investigation of Zheng, Liu, and the Tea House began, which resulted in Zheng and Liu’s convictions.

A. Jurisdiction and Federal Legislative Authority over the CNMI

Zheng contends her convictions are invalid because the federal government lacked authority to prosecute her. Whether the federal government had authority to prosecute Zheng is a legal question that we review de novo. See United States v. Phillips, 367 F.3d 846, 854 (9th Cir.2004) (jurisdictional issues are reviewed de novo); United States v. Mateo-Mendez, 215 F.3d 1039, 1042 (9th Cir.2000) (questions of law are reviewed de novo). Zheng argues the criminal statutes used to convict her do not apply to the CNMI because they were enacted pursuant to Congress’s authority under the commerce clause or the territorial clause and neither the commerce clause nor the territorial clause applies to the CNMI.

To understand this argument, it is necessary to briefly discuss the history and relationship of the CNMI with the United States. The Northern Mariana Islands became a possession of the United States in 1944, during the war with Japan, when the United States invaded Saipan. In 1975, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States reached an agreement to create a political union between the Islands and the United States. This agreement was the “Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America” (the “Covenant”). 48 U.S.C. § 1801. The Covenant became law in 1976 and became completely effective in 1986. The Covenant defines the CNMI’s legal and political relationship with the United States. Covenant §§ 101-105; United States ex rel. Richards v. De Leon Guerrero, 4 F.3d 749, 754 (9th Cir.1993). The Covenant gives the people of the CNMI the right to local self-government, and enables the U.S. federal government to enact legislation applicable to the CNMI as long as the legislation can be made applicable to the states or if the legislation expressly names the CNMI. Covenant §§ 103,105.

Section 501 of the Covenant lists specific provisions of the U.S. Constitution that apply to the CNMI. 2 Zheng argues § 501 *1083 is an exclusive list of the provisions of the U.S. Constitution that apply to the CNMI. Because neither the commerce clause nor the territorial clause are included in § 501, Zheng contends they do not apply to the CNMI.

Zheng relies upon Fleming v. Dept. of Public Safety, to support her argument. 837 F.2d 401, 405 (9th Cir.1988) (overruled on other grounds by Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989)). In Fleming, we held that the Eleventh Amendment does not apply to the CNMI because the Eleventh Amendment was not included in the list of constitutional provisions set forth in § 501. Id. at 405.

In Fleming, Lawrence Fleming sued the CNMI Department of Public Safety, alleging that the department deprived him of his due process and equal protection rights, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, by the way it handled his application to become a police officer. Id. at 403. The department argued it was immune from suit because Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity applied to the CNMI. Id. at 405. We disagreed and concluded the CNMI does not enjoy Eleventh Amendment immunity because the Eleventh Amendment is “conspicuously absent” from § 501 of the Covenant. Id. We reasoned,

From the specificity with which the applicable provisions of the United States Constitution are identified, it is clear that the drafters considered fully each constitutional amendment and article for inclusion in the Covenant.

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Bluebook (online)
538 F.3d 1078, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17172, 2008 WL 3388938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chang-da-liu-ca9-2008.