Woman spared jail for
forbidden relationship

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

It started with feelings, progressed to forbidden kisses and could have ended in jail for a woman trying to rebuild her life from a felony conviction.

But U.S. District Judge David Ezra for the second time this year rejected prison for Liberty Lau and ordered her to cease contact with the man she kissed earlier this month at a bus stop after telling officials she wouldn't see him.

Both Lau and the man, Eugene Kang, were former drug addicts and felons, making associating with each other a probation violation, even though both lived at the same halfway house.

Ezra, who sentenced Lau in January to three years' probation for her role in robbing a Japanese tourist last year, described how two people with drug pasts can bring each other down.

"There are a lot of fish in the ocean," he said yesterday. "After 2-1/2 years, if you still love him and he's out of jail, we can't do anything about it. But you need someone who is a pillar."

Ezra rejected the government's motion to revoke supervised release and ordered Lau, 26, to live with her mother for the rest of her probation.

Her sentence had included six months at Miller Hale, which was to end July 31.

But halfway house officials refused to allow her back after twice violating their rules.

In June, officials caught Lau and Kang in her room looking at photos.

Officials advised her to stay away from Kang and she said she would, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said.

But she again violated the rules this month by giving him a ride to a bus stop and kissing him.

"I don't think she'll be as lucky if she violates the rules again," Kubo said. "She's used up her last dime."

Deputy Federal Public Defender Alexander Silvert described her violations as minor, "considering the degrees of violations that can be committed and what we see regularly."

But he said Ezra understood and took the appropriate actions, adding: "The court has done the right thing down the line in this case."

In addition to modifying Lau's supervised release to send her home, he also ordered Lau's probation officer to notify Kang that she cannot have any contact with him.

He ordered counseling for Lau to help her get over her feelings for Kang, who also was ousted from Miller Hale but sent to prison.

"I'm looking for you to be a success story," Ezra said. "But you must stay away from drugs or people who ever had any association with drugs."