Help innocent wenjian to fight for Justice.
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As reported on the front page of The New Yorker Magazine website, Help Us Get Justice for my Innocent and Wrongfully Convicted Partner, Wenjian Zhuo
My name is minxing Zou, and I am asking for your help to support my partner, Wenjian Zhuo, and our family as we continue a long and expensive legal battle.
Wenjian is a new immigrant who came to the United States hoping to build an honest life through hard work. He is a professional driver who provided private transportation throughout New York, especially for tourists and families visiting the area.
He took great pride in his work. His vehicle was fully equipped with multiple cameras, Wi-Fi, a television, tissues, and other amenities to make passengers comfortable. Because of his professionalism and excellent service, many customers became repeat clients. Within just a few months of working as a driver, he was able to start his own transportation company.
A Routine Job Changed Our Lives Forever
On the afternoon of January 21, 2025, Wenjian received an inquiry for a private transportation job. A customer needed a ride from upstate New York back to New York City the following day.
It was Wenjian’s first time ever traveling to that location. He believed he was simply picking up a customer, possibly a college student moving back to the city. Before leaving, he even promised to pick me up from work later that day. At the time, I was nine months pregnant with our first child.
Instead of transporting a passenger back to New York City, only the customer’s luggage was placed in his vehicle. Wenjian thought the situation was unusual.
Unsure what to do, he called a friend with many years of experience as a professional driver in New York. His friend suggested opening the packages, but Wenjian refused because he believed a professional driver should not open a customer’s belongings without permission. In fact, it is a misdemenaor in NY for a commercial carrier to open someone else's package.
Approximately ten minutes later was he was still mulling the nature of his problems and how to proceed, the Border Patrol stopped his vehicle. As a Chinese from Queens driving an empty minivan at the border, they had been watching him all day.
His Actions Were Not Those of Someone Trying to Hide Something
From the very beginning, Wenjian fully cooperated.
He voluntarily handed officers all of his phones and even showed them how to access the recording system installed in his vehicle.
His van was equipped with cameras that recorded virtually everything.
We continue to ask the Government:
What criminal intentionally installs cameras throughout his own vehicle that record everything, then teaches law enforcement how to retrieve the recordings?
The videos actually enabled cinvestigators identify and arrest the individual who had loaded the marijuana into Wenjian’s vehicle.
He Maintains His Innocence
Inexplicable, if they truly believed that he was an immigrant transporter of 200-plus pounds, the government offfered Wenjian the chance to plead guilty to simple MISDEMEANOR possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana for personal use. The Government's stated purpose in offering such favorable terms was its desire to permit a supposedly guilty drug smuggler to AVOID BEING DEPORTED.
Protesting his innocence, Wenjian refused.
During a pretrial hearing, through a court interpreter, he said:
“I didn’t do anything. All I want is justice.”
He has maintained his innocence from the very beginning.
A Difficult Legal Journey
We have now paid four different attorneys, two of whom only made matters worse.
Our first criminal defense lawyer encouraged us to plead guilty almost immediately, before fully investigating the case. Although I dismissed him within a month, he refused to return any of the tens of thousands in legal fees we had paid.
I then had to hire a second attorney simply to try to recover some of that money.
After that, we hired another criminal defense attorney to represent Wenjian through trial. In an apparent desire to please an impatient judge, he didnt ask a single question in cross examination.
We believed the jury would see the complete recordings from the cameras in Wenjian’s vehicle. I personally spent countless hours organizing the footage and adding English subtitles so the jury could understand exactly what happened.
Instead, only short portions of the videos were shown, accompanied by summarized translations rather than complete translations. Because the jurors did not understand Chinese, they had to rely on those summaries.
After trial, Wenjian was convicted.
Today, we have retained a fourth attorney to continue fighting for justice through the post-trial process and appeal.
Our Family Has Been Torn Apart
I have been forced to become a single mother.
Our daughter is now one and a half years old.
She has never met her father.
Not because he doesn’t love her—but because he does not want her first memory of him to be inside a jail.
Every day she grows up without him.
Every milestone he misses can never be replaced.
We Need Your Help
We have spent nearly everything we saved on legal fees.
The money that was supposed to buy baby supplies, provide security for our daughter, and become the down payment for our first home has disappeared into legal expenses.
Today I work full time, care for our daughter, and continue managing this legal battle.
Some days I honestly don’t know how much longer I can do it alone.
But we refuse to give up.
We still believe in justice.
We still believe the truth matters.
If you are able to contribute, every donation will go only toward attorney fees, appellate litigation, and other legal expenses related to Wenjian’s case.
If you are unable to donate, simply reading our story and sharing it with others means more than you know.
Thank you for standing with our family and helping us continue our fight for justice. Every act of kindness gives us hope that one day our daughter will finally be reunited with her father.
Updates:
We want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us and shined a light during one of the darkest times in our lives. Your kindness, encouragement, and generosity mean more to us than words can express, and we will be forever grateful.
Every donation will be used exclusively for legal expenses related to this case. None of these funds will ever be used for our personal living expenses or personal benefit. We are committed to full transparency and will upload receipts documenting how every dollar is spent.
Your support has given us hope when we needed it most. We are deeply humbled by the compassion we have received from each and every one of you. We hope that one day, when we are able, we can pay this kindness forward and help others the way you have helped us.
Thank you for believing in us and for standing with us.
Original vehicle footage posted on YouTube, search help innocent wenjian Zhuo (Owen) to fight justice.
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