Judge detains 14 more crewmen
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A federal judge yesterday ordered another 14 Chinese men who were possible witnesses to a double murder aboard a fishing boat last month held without bail and defended the treatment they and 16 other shipmates have received while in U.S. custody.
The 14 men who were ordered detained yesterday by federal Judge David Ezra are part of a group of 30 crew members who were aboard the Taiwanese-operated fishing vessel Full Means No. 2 when its captain and first mate were fatally stabbed.
Lei Shi, 21, a cook aboard the ship, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on murder and other charges in connection with the case. U.S. officials have said that Shi stabbed the two men after they rejected his demands that the ship head back to China.
The 14 crewmen Ezra ordered detained yesterday are possible defense witnesses while the 16 others ordered detained in earlier hearings are potential witnesses for the prosecution. During yesterday's hearing, Ezra ordered lawyers from both sides to interview the crew members as quickly as possible to speed their release.
Ezra emphasized repeatedly that he believes the crew members, all of whom are from the People's Republic of China, are being treated humanely and properly. While the crew has been held at the federal detention center, it is because they have no legal basis to enter the United States. If the crew were not being detained as part of the court process, they would be detained by the "U.S. immigration service" and would be housed at the detention center anyway, Ezra said.
"They're not being treated any differently than anybody else," Ezra said. "They don't just show up here and walk around Honolulu — that's not the way it works here or in any other country."
When Ezra asked the crew members if any of them felt they were being treated improperly, one of them, Fu Xiang Wang, raised his hand and said he is being kept apart from his shipmates.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Brady told Ezra that some of Wang's fellow shipmates said during interviews on Thursday that they feared Wang because he assisted Shi "shortly after the offense" took place.
Ezra said that the "prudent thing to do" is to keep Wang separated from the others until the concern about their safety "can be sorted out."
A diplomat from the People's Republic of China, homeland of all of the crew members detained in Honolulu, has criticized officials here for using hand and leg restraints while transporting the detainees, but Ezra yesterday said the use of such restraints is normal law-enforcement policy when dealing with large groups of people "so they can't flee or do harm to themselves or others."
Lawyers for the crew members told Ezra yesterday that their clients are concerned that they may never be paid for more than a year's work aboard the vessel and may find themselves out of a job as well because they have gotten caught up in the case against Lei Shi.
Ezra said those issues were not properly before him at yesterday's hearing. He said a lawyer representing any of the crew members on the pay issue could file an admiralty request in an effort to have the ship "arrested" to keep it from leaving Honolulu until the matter is resolved.
Anne Stevens, the ship's agent in Honolulu, said a skeleton replacement crew of Japanese sailors arrived in Honolulu yesterday morning and planned to depart with the ship within 48 hours. She said the ship's owner wired a portion of the money each of the crew members is due to her office so they can be paid, and has deposited the lion's share of each crew member's pay with a bank in China.
