Chinese national sentenced for resisting an officer at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Lu Jing, a 56-year-old Chinese tourist, said she just wanted to take photographs of President Donald Trump’s estate in December and that she was dropped off there by a Chinese tour guide she had hired online.
On Friday morning, Palm Beach County judge Mark Eissey sentenced Lu to an additional six months in Palm Beach County Jail after a seven-member jury convicted Lu on Wednesday of a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.
“She absolutely, positively must not go near Mar-a-Lago,” Eissey said Friday. He gave her credit for 59 days she has already served and added $373 in court costs. “She is on notice.”
Lu, clad in prison garb and chained at the wrists, dabbed at her eyes as she stood near her court-appointed lawyer.
Lu asked, through her attorney, for a light sentence, saying she’s a law-abiding citizen, WPTV reported.
Prosecutors had argued for a year sentence, saying that they wanted to send a message to others who might want to do as Lu did: wander onto the private property without authorization, WPBF 25 reported.
Happening now : Prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence Lu Jing to 1 year in prison, to send a message that her actions at #MarALago are NOT acceptable. @WPBF25News
— Caroline Coles (@CarolineCWPBF) February 14, 2020
On Wednesday, Lu was acquitted of the more serious trespassing charge after prosecutors said Lu went through an open front gate of the private, members-only club in Palm Beach on Dec. 18, and then tried to access the president’s primary residence through an un-gated service road accessible from South Ocean Boulevard.
Prosecutors had called Lu’s Mar-a-Lago breach a “calculated decision.”
Jurors doubted whether Lu knew she shouldn’t have been on the grounds after her public defenders pointed out that the members-only club failed to post warning signs against trespassing or taking photographs.
She was, instead, convicted on the resisting arrest without violence charge.
Trump weekend at Mar-a-Lago
President Trump is expected to be at Mar-a-Lago Friday evening through the Presidents’ Day weekend. The stay will be Trump’s 30th visit since he assumed the presidency in January 2017, The Palm Beach Post reported.
Security, of course, is boosted when the president is on the grounds.
Last March, federal authorities arrested another Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, for unlawfully entering the club.
