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No jail for man accused of battery
More articles on this topic: Zhong GongRestraining orders issued
PASADENA – Hong Bao Zhang smiled as his attorney, Mark Geragos, gave him the thumbs-up after a judge announced that Zhang would not go to jail, serve probation or pay restitution to his former housekeeper.
Zhang, 52, of Pasadena, had pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery on his former housekeeper, Nan Fang He, who had accused him of beating and falsely imprisoning her.
On Tuesday afternoon, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Janice Croft sentenced Zhang to pay a $100 restitution fine. Croft said Zhang would not have to pay restitution to Nan Fang He, nor would he have to serve jail or probation time. She did, however, grant several restraining orders against Zhang for Nan Fang He and four others.
Zhang is the exiled founder of Zhong Gong, a Chinese spiritual wellness movement that was once reported to have as many as 38 million followers.
Nan Fang He gave an impassioned speech in front of Croft, translated by a Chinese interpreter, describing an alleged attack on March 15, 2003.
“He knocked me to the ground,” Nan Fang He said. “He grabbed my hair and pushed me against the back of the reclining chair. I was crying, and he was afraid somebody would hear me, choked my throat and covered my mouth. He also threatened, `If you cry again, I will choke you to death.”‘
While she spoke, deputy defense attorney Susan Schwartz held up photos of Nan Fang He’s bruised body. Nan Fang He said she was threatened by Zhang, on a Chinese women’s Web site, until the night before the hearing. Her attorney, Steven Scandura, told the judge that he and his colleague, Sam Wang, were also threatened by Zhang.
In response, Croft granted restraining orders against Zhang for Nan Fang He, Scandura, Wang and two of Fang He’s family members. The orders are to remain in effect for 10 years, and Zhang would be subject to criminal prosecution for violating them.
However, Croft said, she could not “in good conscience” sentence Zhang to jail time or probation due to the “discrepancy” between Nan Fang He’s testimony in the preliminary hearing and the Pasadena police’s and hospital’s descriptions of her injuries.
According to Geragos, Nan Fang He’s first call after allegedly being beaten over a period of time was to a lawyer, not to doctors or police. After being discharged from the hospital and offered shelter at a women’s home, Geragos said Nan Fang He said “all she wanted was a lawyer to sue Mr. Zhang.
“There was no evidence of struggle at the house found by police,” he said. “The following day, she went to a photo studio, and within a month, she had hired a lawyer.”
Schwartz said bruises can often take some time to appear, and that police said Zhang appeared battered when they picked her up in March 2003.
Geragos said he and his client were “ecstatic” at the judge’s decision Tuesday.
“We went from life in prison for kidnapping and beating to misdemeanor battery,” he said, referring to the original felony charges filed against Zhang. “\\ completely imploded at the preliminary hearing. She was not credible.”
After the hearing, Nan Fang He, speaking through Wang, said she was somewhat comforted by the restraining orders. But, she said, she thought Zhang got off too easily.
“It was too light,” she said of his sentence. “I think he should do jail time.”
Wang said Nan Fang He still has civil suits pending against Zhang.
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