Visas sought for detained
crew of Chinese ship

Some of the men may have
to wait more than a year to testify

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo is in Washington, D.C., to secure work visas and living expenses for a handful of the 30 Chinese crewmen of a Taiwanese fishing vessel, who may be forced to remain in Hawaii for more than a year waiting to testify in a double murder trial.

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady, "You want to keep them until trial, which may be months and months and months away?"

The men are being held at the federal detention center until their testimony can be taken in videotaped depositions for use at trial.

Key witnesses, however, will be detained for the trial of Shi Lei, 21, currently scheduled for September, although the trial may start much later.

Shi is charged with fatally stabbing the captain and first mate aboard the Full Means No. 2 and seizing control of the vessel March 14-16. Assistant federal public defender Pam Byrne, who represents Shi Lei, asked that FBI agents retrieve from the ship evidence including a bamboo pole, pipe and board allegedly used by the first mate to beat the crew.

The ship was detained in a court order obtained by Jay Friedheim and Arnold Phillips II, attorneys for all 30 crewmen who are seeking back wages from the owner.

Friedheim said the vessel's owner has abandoned his right to the shark fins in the ship to the crew. He said the shark fins could be worth up to $1 million.

"Essentially, he's giving us the shark fin, and we accept it," Friedheim said.

Friedheim said the owner offered to provide a bank letter of credit, which he said may be difficult to collect on. Instead, he is asking for a bond of $800,000, based on twice the value of the wage claims.

"If the vessel is not bonded, we will seek to sell the vessel by auction because we cannot afford to pay the cost of the arrest (of the ship)," Friedheim said, which has cost more than $20,000 thus far.

Depositions of crewmen will be delayed because Michael Burt, a special court-appointed counsel to represent Shi because he may face the death penalty, was scheduled to leave last night for another trial in San Francisco.

Gillmor allowed temporary suspension of the depositions until Monday, when she would again take up the appeal of a magistrate's decision that Burt does not need to be present for all the depositions.

Thus far, nine depositions have been completed.