Thread: Smiling Chee gets prison term

http://www.news-record.com/news/local/chee_030305.htm

Smiling Chee gets prison term

3-3-05

By Eric Collins, Staff Writer
News & Record



WINSTON-SALEM -- A Greensboro lawyer once nationally recognized for her pro bono work with immigrants was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in federal prison for breaking the law for immigrant clients.

Minutes after hearing her fate from Judge James A. Beaty in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, Manlin Chee, 53, plopped down in her chair, looked up at her lawyer and smiled.

Shortly after, she walked over to the front row of the courtroom, where her 15-year-old daughter, Leia, sobbed.

"It's OK," she told her daughter. "At least it's ended."

Chee pleaded guilty on Nov. 23 to defrauding the United States by submitting false paperwork on behalf of immigrant clients. She admitted to arranging a sham marriage so one client could remain in the country and falsely portraying another in legal documents as a homosexual who would face persecution if sent back to Egypt. Both clients were undercover government informants.

Chee, who won't report to prison until April 22, expressed relief once outside the courtroom with her family and supporters.

"It's over," she said. "There's nothing else to say. It's the end."

Tim Hopkins, a spokesman for the Manlin Chee Defense Committee, said after the hearing that Chee was only guilty of helping people to a fault.

"We don't think she deserves one day of jail time, not one," Hopkins said.

Prosecutors argued that she not only submitted false paperwork, but also lied to an Immigration and Naturalization Service official during a secretly taped meeting in Charlotte. She benefited financially for her trouble, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Hamilton, recalling how she told the undercover informant in the sham marriage that he would have to pay more because the FBI was watching him.

"This case is about greed ... like any other white-collar crime," Hamilton said.

But Chee's attorney, Locke Clifford, painted her in court as an overly compassionate lawyer who broke the law not for money, but to help others.

"Yes, it's serious to tell a lie to the government," Clifford said. "What was she trying to do? Help a human being."

Beaty's sentence came after arguments over two days from both sides about factors they believed should affect Chee's sentence. That included whether she deserved a harsher sentence as the leader or organizer of a criminal activity that involved five or more people, and whether she deserved less time because of her mental condition. Citing a panic disorder and major depression, she relinquished her right to practice law in North Carolina this past April. Clifford told the judge she suffered from similar problems for years.

Clifford had asked for a probationary sentence, arguing that Chee already had lost her law practice -- which at one point included offices in Greensboro, Charlotte and Wilmington, and thousands of clients -- and would never be in a position to commit similar offenses again.

But Beaty eventually determined Wednesday that Chee should face a sentence between 12 months and 18 months under federal sentencing guidelines. He chose the lowest end of that range, though he could have strayed from that because of a Supreme Court decision in January that determined the guidelines are only advisory.

At Clifford's request, Beaty agreed to add a single day to her sentence, which lowered the amount of time she spends in prison. Under federal sentencing law, prisoners receive a 54-day credit for every year or part of a year they serve after their initial year in prison. The extra day will mean Chee will spend only about 10 months in prison.

Contact Eric Collins at 373-7077, or ecollins@news-record.com

Just another pro-immigration lawyer, doing what she can for a buck.

http://www.news-record.com/news/local/chee_030305.htm

Smiling Chee gets prison term

3-3-05

By Eric Collins, Staff Writer
News & Record



WINSTON-SALEM -- A Greensboro lawyer once nationally recognized for her pro bono work with immigrants was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in federal prison for breaking the law for immigrant clients.

Minutes after hearing her fate from Judge James A. Beaty in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, Manlin Chee, 53, plopped down in her chair, looked up at her lawyer and smiled.

Shortly after, she walked over to the front row of the courtroom, where her 15-year-old daughter, Leia, sobbed.

"It's OK," she told her daughter. "At least it's ended."

Chee pleaded guilty on Nov. 23 to defrauding the United States by submitting false paperwork on behalf of immigrant clients. She admitted to arranging a sham marriage so one client could remain in the country and falsely portraying another in legal documents as a homosexual who would face persecution if sent back to Egypt. Both clients were undercover government informants.

Chee, who won't report to prison until April 22, expressed relief once outside the courtroom with her family and supporters.

"It's over," she said. "There's nothing else to say. It's the end."

Tim Hopkins, a spokesman for the Manlin Chee Defense Committee, said after the hearing that Chee was only guilty of helping people to a fault.

"We don't think she deserves one day of jail time, not one," Hopkins said.

Prosecutors argued that she not only submitted false paperwork, but also lied to an Immigration and Naturalization Service official during a secretly taped meeting in Charlotte. She benefited financially for her trouble, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Hamilton, recalling how she told the undercover informant in the sham marriage that he would have to pay more because the FBI was watching him.

"This case is about greed ... like any other white-collar crime," Hamilton said.

But Chee's attorney, Locke Clifford, painted her in court as an overly compassionate lawyer who broke the law not for money, but to help others.

"Yes, it's serious to tell a lie to the government," Clifford said. "What was she trying to do? Help a human being."

Beaty's sentence came after arguments over two days from both sides about factors they believed should affect Chee's sentence. That included whether she deserved a harsher sentence as the leader or organizer of a criminal activity that involved five or more people, and whether she deserved less time because of her mental condition. Citing a panic disorder and major depression, she relinquished her right to practice law in North Carolina this past April. Clifford told the judge she suffered from similar problems for years.

Clifford had asked for a probationary sentence, arguing that Chee already had lost her law practice -- which at one point included offices in Greensboro, Charlotte and Wilmington, and thousands of clients -- and would never be in a position to commit similar offenses again.

But Beaty eventually determined Wednesday that Chee should face a sentence between 12 months and 18 months under federal sentencing guidelines. He chose the lowest end of that range, though he could have strayed from that because of a Supreme Court decision in January that determined the guidelines are only advisory.

At Clifford's request, Beaty agreed to add a single day to her sentence, which lowered the amount of time she spends in prison. Under federal sentencing law, prisoners receive a 54-day credit for every year or part of a year they serve after their initial year in prison. The extra day will mean Chee will spend only about 10 months in prison.

Contact Eric Collins at 373-7077, or ecollins@news-record.com

Just another pro-immigration lawyer, doing what she can for a buck.