THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120466
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the convictions of three Chinese nationals who illegally exported military night-vision devices to their homeland.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision of a federal court jury in Norfolk.
The smuggling operation was headed by double agent Bin Wu, who was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to obtain technological information in the United States. Wu also worked with Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Blake Lewis, who paid him $21,500 for information between April 1991 and October 1992.
Wu, Jing Ping Li and Pinzhe Zhang were convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy to export defense articles, violations of the Arms Export Act, money laundering and making false statements. Wu was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Li to six years and Zhang to three years, five months.
The defendants argued that Lewis knew they were obtaining the image intensifier tubes from Varo Inc., a Texas manufacturer, and shipping them to China. Lewis denied any knowledge of the illegal activity.
On appeal, the defendants argued that the agent's testimony lacked credibility and that U.S. District Judge Rebecca B. Smith ``naively'' trusted the government, denying requests for FBI documents to be entered into evidence.
The appeals court disagreed.
``We find that the government's evidence on the whole corroborated Lewis' testimony and was more than sufficient to support the verdict,'' the court said.
The court also rejected the defendants' claim that jurors should have been questioned more thoroughly about their possible biases against China, foreign nationals, double agents and communists.
``The court instructed the jurors . . . that they could not be influenced by any bias, prejudice, or passion,'' the appeals court said.
The appeals panel consisted of Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin III and Judges H. Emory Widener and James Dickson Phillips.
KEYWORDS: APPEAL MILITARY NIGHT VISION GLASSES SMUGGLING U.S. COURT by CNB