Black asks for another delay
Former House Speaker Jim Black is asking for more time before his sentencing on federal corruption charges.
This is the second time he's done so. The first time was because he wanted a new judge.
This time, it's because he does NOT want a new charge...sort of.
When federal defendants plead guilty and are awaiting a judge to issue a sentence, they're overseen by the probation office for whatever jurisdiction they're in. That probation office also make a pre-sentencing report, essentially a recommendation as to how bad exactly the defendants offenses were and what the guidelines for sentencing might be.
Up until recently, Black was facing sentencing on "acceptance of illegal gratuities," which is sort of like a bribery-light statute.
But in this e-mail, the probation office told Black's lawyers that they were going to recommend a guideline consistent with full out bribery, which would mean more time in prison for Black.
He obviously objects to that idea and asks the court for more time to prepare a response:
6. Had the PSR recommended that the base offense level be set pursuant to § 2C1.2, as counsel had most recently been told by USPO it would be and as the plea agreement recommends, the defendant would not be moving the Court to continue sentencing and asserting his right pursuant to Fed R. Crim. P. 32(e)(2). Because the defendant did not receive the surprise PSR until the day after the Court ordered deadline for filing a motion to continue sentencing, and indeed did not even receive notice that the PSR would be other than previously related to counsel until after the noon deadline of the day such a motion was ordered to be filed, the defendant could not have foreseen the need to move the Court to continue sentencing by the Court’s deadline.7. To respond to the erroneous sentencing guidelines calculations in the PSR,
counsel will need to provide the Court with extensive briefing. Presumably the
government will also submit a brief to the Court in opposition and objection to the PSR
pursuant to the plea agreement. Further, the defendant will need to subpoena additional
witnesses to the sentencing that he did not anticipate.
Click here to read the full motion.
Black has already requested some of the transcripts from folks who testified at the grand jury proceedings, presumably to show that he might be guilty of one thing but not the other.
Meanwhile, as my colleagues at the Charlotte Observer pointed out last month, the judge has asked Black to be a teetotaler until his sentencing.