31 Facts About Eddy Zheng

Xiaofei "Eddy" Zheng is a Chinese American youth counselor in Oakland, California.

Eddy Zheng's father was an officer in the People's Liberation Army for the Guangzhou Military Region, while his mother worked as an accountant for the government.

Eddy Zheng was the youngest of three siblings, with an older sister and brother.

Eddy Zheng's father worked at Burger King, while his mother was a live-in babysitter for another family.

Eddy Zheng rarely saw his parents and suffered difficulties in school due to his poor English skills.

Eddy Zheng befriended other Chinese immigrant youths in his school, who began to push him towards crime such as petty shoplifting; Zheng was arrested for stealing a jacket from a Macy's store, and placed under probation.

Eddy Zheng's family had no money to hire a lawyer in his defense; they urged him to plead guilty because they were under the impression that it would bring him a more lenient sentence.

Just aged 16 at the time, Eddy Zheng was tried as an adult and convicted of 16 felony counts including kidnap-robbery, and sentenced to seven years to life in prison.

Eddy Zheng had an interpreter and a public defender during his trial, but reportedly did not understand most of the legal language used and did not even realize he had been sentenced to life in prison until after the trial when he arrived at the California Youth Authority where he would begin to serve his sentence.

Eddy Zheng's lawyer was supposed to ask the judge for a judicial recommendation against deportation but failed to do so, an omission which would bring later legal difficulties for Zheng.

Eddy Zheng was later transferred to San Quentin State Prison, where he ended up serving as a model prisoner.

Eddy Zheng taught himself English through reading romance novels, and passed the GED in one attempt.

Eddy Zheng held crime prevention workshops, giving lectures to at-risk immigrant youth who visited the prison in an effort to steer them away from a life of crime.

Eddy Zheng's parents attempted to keep his imprisonment a secret; in an essay written some years later, Zheng recalled how his mother lied to relatives that he was busy with school when he failed to show up for his grandparents' funerals.

Eddy Zheng applied for parole for the first time in 1992.

Eddy Zheng met Shelly Smith, a volunteer English tutor in 1999 and began to develop a friendship with her which would later blossom into a romantic relationship.

Eddy Zheng was placed in solitary confinement for eleven months as punishment.

The publicity surrounding Eddy Zheng's case, bolstered as a result of his solitary confinement, began to result in increasing sympathy from the Asian American community.

In November 2004, the parole board again recommended that Eddy Zheng be released; the new governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did not object, and Eddy Zheng was released from San Quentin on March 10,2005.

At his deportation hearings in 2006, California Department of Corrections director Jerry Enomoto urged the judge to let Eddy Zheng remain in the United States, asserting that Eddy Zheng had significantly reformed himself while in prison and that society would benefit if he were released to receive a fresh start.

Eddy Zheng's lawyer argued that Zheng, as a Christian, might face persecution if returned to China.

In December 2010, Eddy Zheng appealed his deportation order to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Eddy Zheng was quoted as saying that the news would make a wonderful Mother's Day present for his mother.

Eddy Zheng's mother remains in San Francisco, while his elder sister moved to Hong Kong in 2008.

Nightingale for his part reacted with optimism, stated that with the ruling in hand, Eddy Zheng had "a really good shot" at convincing an immigration judge to permit him to remain in the country.

Eddy Zheng's poetry has been published in the Kartika Review.

Eddy Zheng served as a member of the San Francisco Central Police Station Citizen Advisory Board, a board member of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a national advisory board member of the Asian American Law Journal, and co-chair of the Asian Prisoners' Support Committee.

In June 2011, Eddy Zheng emerged as one of five co-chairs of the Run Ed Run campaign along with Rose Pak, Planning Commission President Christina Olague, Assistant District Attorney Victor Hwang, and Progress for All chief consultant Enrique Pearce.

Eddy Zheng married his current wife Lisa Lee on December 31,2012; San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Jane Kim performed the marriage.

Eddy Zheng naturalized as a US citizen in January 2017.

Eddy Zheng supported Bernie Sanders' run for nomination for the 2020 presidential election.