Human Trafficking for Sex—Sentencing

Chief Judge Alex R. Munson for the District of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands has sentenced Ming Yan Zheng to 78 months in prison after she was “convicted of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and for operating a prostitution business in western Garapan.”^[1] Ms. Zheng, along with codefendant Chang Da Liu, was also ordered to pay restitution to two victims and a $55,000 fine.^[2]

The two were convicted on testimony which amounted to a quintessential trafficking case, rather than a smuggling case: “[a]n alleged business partner of businesswoman Ming Yan Zheng testified [in August] that [Ms.] Zheng had told one girl in China that she would get $3,000 to $4,000 monthly salary as a waitress at her karaoke business on Saipan.”^[3] In fact, however, “the defendants compelled the women to engage in prostitution at [the] karaoke club”;^[4] as we have mentioned a number of times, the false pretenses are what constitutes the trafficking—otherwise it would be smuggling or solely transportation for sexual activity.

Ms. Zheng’s boyfriend, Chang Da Liu, was sentenced last week, and he received 57 months imprisonment, even though, as Ms. Zheng’s lawyer pointed out at the sentencing hearing, “[Mr.] Liu was even convicted for beating up [Ms.] Zheng,” and therefore her relationship with him was partly to blame for her behavior.^[5] The attorney was likely trying to argue what was successful for Linda Kaufman in a forced labor prosecution. Ms. Kaufman was shown to have a dependent personality and to have been manipulated by another person; the difference here, however, may have to do with the fact that a psychiatrist testified in Ms. Kaufman’s sentencing, while it does not seem that the same thing happened in Ms. Zheng’s sentencing.

The Sentencing Guidelines state that “[m]ental and emotional conditions” are “not ordinarily relevant in determining whether a departure is warranted,” they can be used as grounds for departure under section 5K2.12 of the guidelines; this section states that “if the defendant committed the offense because of serious coercion, blackmail or duress, under circumstances not amounting to a complete defense, the court may depart downward.”

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[1] Ferdie de la Torre, Woman Draws 6 Years in Sex Trafficking Case, Saipan Tribune, Dec. 10, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Ferdie de la Torre, Witness Tells of False Promises in Ongoing Prostitution Case, Saipan Tribune, Aug. 24, 2006.
[4] Sex Traffickers Could Get Life in Prison, Pacific Daily News (via Pacific Magazine), Aug. 26, 2006.
[5] De la Torre, supra note 1.