THE JUDGE & THE CONVICT'S WOMAN
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     "Yes, the money was part of my reluctance to take on the assignment," admits Gee good-naturedly. "We were also thinking about moving our offices and weren't really interested in taking on more work right then."

"To this day I believe he was simply concerned that this poor woman was going to go to prison for the rest of her life for just being at the scene."

     But as officers of the court, lawyers are under an ethical duty to accept court appointments in the absence of a compelling excuse. On September 17 Trammell appointed Gee to investigate whether Ballentyne's representation had been so substandard as to have deprived Chu of the right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.
     "Of course no one knew what was going on in Trammell's mind at the time," Gee says. "But to this day, I believe he was simply concerned that this poor woman was going to go to prison for the rest of her life for just being at the scene."
     Concern for justice may have played a role in Trammell's appointment of second counsel for Chu and Jin, respectively, of Gee and an attorney named John Rodriguez. Cynics armed with hindsight, however, would suggest less altruistic reasons. First, despite Trammell's assurances, the appointment of second counsel does create lengthy delays in sentencing and hearing of new trial motions, greatly extending and prolonging Trammell's discretionary powers over the case. Also, it was probably clear to both Trammell and Deputy DA Morrison that the verdicts in the case were an anomaly resulting from Trammell's highly questionable rulings which would certainly come under review by the appellate courts if and when Trammell denied the new trial motions the defense attorneys intended to file. The appellate court would likely gag at Trammell's bizarre conduct of the case and order a new trial, one which the defense attorneys would certainly move out of Trammell's courtroom citing the strong biases he had shown in the first trial. In the face of this likelihood, Trammell might have believed that the appointment of second counsel would serve a dual purpose--show regard for his judicial duties and let him keep the cases in his courtroom long enough to get his way with Lo.
     While Trammell was busy orchestrating his bizarre scheme, Jin--who was still ignorant of the Judge's designs on the mother of his children--was frantically asking everyone he knew to write letters to be included in his sentencing memorandum, a document filed by a defendant to inspire a judge toward leniency. Of course, if the verdict stood as rendered, the only sentence that could be handed down was life without possibility of parole. Yet, 65 pages of letters pleading mercy were attached to the sentencing memorandum.
     One is a two-page letter dated July 12 from Pifen Lo:

Dear Honorable Judge Trammell:
     I would like to express my deepest appreciation again for your kindness and mercy to let me go home earlier to take care of my children. I sincerely believe that you are a kind and nice judge.
     Ming Jin's case took a lot of your time and energy. Although we lost this law suit, we still appreciate your patience and effort during the trial.
     Herewith I would like to say something for Ming Jin. Since I was a teenager, I have known Ming for 22 years. I understand his personality and characteristic. He is a responsible person and has strong family tie concept. He is a perfectionist. He is very loyal to his friends and employees. Sometimes I feel jealous when he puts them in the first priority than us. He is always generous to his friends and employees. He frequently purchases clothes, shoes and daily supplies for them, took them to restaurant and KTV enjoyed the funs together. He has no discrimination between master and servant. He allowed employees to use long-distance phone bill without charging them. He gave monthly awards to employees based on their performance. They lived and worked in a harmony environment. If he is a stingy and narrow-minded person, who would like to work for him.

     Due to the negligence of our previous attorney, we lost the right on the illegal search issue. You asked our babysitter Yu Chu if she was allowed to use telephone and watch TV, she replied no. I asked her why she gave different story in the court when she got back to the jail. She said because she was too nervous and she did not really understand what the question was. Additionally, Mr Yan said that Ms Chu told him that Ming always likes to hit people. This is not true either. Ms Chu told me that she never told him that. Because of the incorrect information, everyone thought that Ming was a bad person. Ming really did not kidnap Mr and Mrs Yan. On the contrary, he treated them like a VIP. That was why Mr Xu, the driver, stated that he would go after Mr Yan after he left Ming's house. In Ming's mind that felt that he was so innocent because he did all this for Mr Xu, but he was still displeased. He treated Mr Yan so well after he was injured. He was still unhappy and sued him. That is why Ming did not want to accept the sentence for 11 years offered by the district attorney. He wanted to show that he was innocent and did not commit the kidnapping. If he really kidnapped Mr and Mrs Yan he would and should accept the 11-year sentence because he had additional charges to the sentences. Why should he take such risk? Mr and Mrs Yan blackmailed Ming's family for $140,000. Mr Yan stated that Ming was such a rich person and only gave him a small amount of $3,000 which was later taken away by the police officer. Instead of paying $100,000 to attorney Ming should pay all those money to him. Mr Yan also threatened us that if we do not pay him enough money then don't blame him for saying something which may damage us in court. All these important true facts were not mentioned in the court and left Ming in no position to debate and finally lost the case. He probably will be put in jail for the rest of his life. He is very sad as well as his whole family.

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