Judge says 3 months in jail are enough for Chinese scientist in U.S. smuggling case

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DETROIT — A young Chinese scientist interrogated for hours after an international flight to Detroit and held in jail for three months was sentenced to time served Wednesday for illegally shipping biological material to the U.S. that nonetheless wasn’t a threat to the public.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman acknowledged that federal agents have a critical role in stopping “bad actors” from trying to get “bad stuff” into the country. But he also noted that Chengxuan Han, who was headed to a one-year job at a University of Michigan lab, doesn’t appear to fit that category.

“That’s the appropriate balance to strike here,” the judge said in declining to keep Han locked up for anot