A20 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 WST LATIMES.COM
FORT LAUDERDALE,
Fla. — The upcoming trial of
a Chinese national on fed-
eral charges that she tres-
passed at President
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort
and lied to the Secret Serv-
ice is potentially a circus
wrapped in mystery.
Rejecting the strong rec-
ommendation of U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Roy Altman, Yu-
jing Zhang fired her public
defenders in June to act as
her own attorney — a long-
shot move the 33-year-old
Shanghai business consult-
ant has struggled with dur-
ing pretrial hearings setting
up Monday’s scheduled jury
selection.
Zhang often frustrates
Altman by ignoring his ques-
tions or answering with non
sequiturs. At times she
replies in near-fluent Eng-
lish and insists she under-
stands complex legal con-
cepts, but will then say she
doesn’t understand a simple
question and turns to her
Mandarin translator.
“I know full well that you
understand what I am say-
ing to you both in English
and in Mandarin,” Altman
told her during an August
hearing. “You are trying to
play games.”
If that weren’t enough,
prosecutors have filed under
seal secret evidence that
they say has national securi-
ty implications, even though
Zhang is not charged with
espionage. The Secret Serv-
ice said when agents de-
tained Zhang at Mar-a-Lago
she was carrying a comput-
er, a hard drive, four cell-
phones and a thumb drive
containing malware, al-
though agents later re-
canted that accusation.
Agents said Zhang told
them she brought the elec-
tronics to Mar-a-Lago be-
cause she feared they would
be stolen if left at her nearby
hotel, but in her room they
allegedly found a device to
detect hidden cameras,
computers, $8,000 in cash
plus credit and debit cards,
all in the open.
Attempts to contactZhang in jail, where she is be-
ing held without bail, were
unsuccessful, and the Chi-
nese Embassy in Washing-
ton did not respond to
emails and phone calls seek-
ing comment. The U.S. at-
torney’s office in Miami de-
clined to comment. Zhang
could get six years in prison
if convicted.
Her former public de-
fenders are on standby in
case she changes her mind
about representing herself.
They have said she appears
mentally competent, but she
wouldn’t speak to a psychol-
ogist. They said Zhang’s
Chinese relatives told them
she has no mental health
problems.
Zhang was arrested
March 30 after she allegedly
lied to get past a Secret Serv-
ice agent guarding Mar-a-
Lago, saying she was there
to use the pool. She made it
to the lobby, where she told a
receptionist she was there
for a United Nations friend-
ship event that night and
had come early to take pic-
tures. That event had been
canceled, and prosecutors
say Zhang had been in-
formed. The president was
staying at Mar-a-Lago that
weekend, but was at his
nearby golf club when Zhang
arrived.
Though there are no stat-
istics, it is rare for defend-
ants charged with serious
felonies to represent them-
selves — pro se, in legal par-
lance — and that’s particu-
larly true in federal court.
Even with an experienced
defense attorney, federal ac-quittals are rare. According
to the Pew Research Center,
90% of federal defendants
pleaded guilty in 2018, and
8% had their cases dis-
missed. Of the 2% who went
to trial, 8 out of 10 were con-
victed.
University of Florida law
professor Michelle Jacobs, a
former criminal defense law-
yer, and Miami attorney
David Weinstein, a former
federal prosecutor, said Alt-
man’s job would be more dif-
ficult because Zhang doesn’t
know trial procedure or
rules. If she makes a major
error that slips by, that could
lead to a guilty verdict being
thrown out on appeal. Alt-
man will probably slow the
trial so Zhang can keep up.
Weinstein said prose-
cutors will find the case
more difficult because not
only do they also have to
watch out for reversible er-
rors Zhang might make, but
their “vanity” is at stake.
“It is one thing to lose to a
defense attorney; it is quite
another to lose a case to a
pro se defendant,” he said.
Jacobs wondered
whether Zhang fired her
public defenders because
she comes from an authori-
tarian country and thought
their job was to help ensure
her conviction, even though
Altman explained their role
numerous times.
“The expectation might
be that the state will do what
the state does, and whether
you participate or not,”
Jacobs said, “the end of the
trial is a foregone conclu-
sion.”Mar-a-Lago trespassing
case takes more odd turns
CHINESE NATIONALYujing Zhang, at left in this
courtroom sketch, is acting as her own attorney.Daniel PontetAssociated Pressassociated pressFREE LIVING
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