An 'absolutely astonishing' blunder sent a former top official at the United States Consulate to prison for the wrong crime.
Jerry Stuchiner, 45, former Hong Kong head of the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service, was in the Court of Appeal yesterday seeking a cut in his three-year, four-month sentence.
But before he could make the request, senior Crown prosecutor Ian McWalters pointed out that Stuchiner had been jailed under the wrong ordinance.
The court granted Stuchiner legal aid and adjourned the case until April 25, when it will instead hear his appeal against the conviction.
Stuchiner was arrested at Kai Tak airport on July 15 last year in possession of five Honduran passports.
He was charged with, and admitted, possession of false travel documents. By legal definition a travel document includes a photograph. But the passports Stuchiner carried were blank except for an official chop and a signature.
During the sentencing on August 17, the error was missed by Chief District Judge Clare Beeson, prosecutors Gavin Shui and Kevin Zervos, and Stuchiner's lawyer, Gary Plowman QC.
