Manuel seeks second delay

Manuel seeks second delay

Attorney asks court magistrate for longer continuance

By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 12/06/08


An attorney for former St. Johns County Chairman Tom Manuel has asked a U.S. District Court magistrate to delay his bribery trial for up to six months.

This is the second continuance requested by Manuel's attorney, William J. Sheppard of Sheppard White and Thomas, Jacksonville.

Manuel said, "Obviously, there's a lot of information in this case. We have a tremendous amount of research to do to properly prepare."

He again declared his innocence and said he will prove it in court.

"This all started very quickly after I was elected," Manuel said. "The FBI didn't wake up one day and decide to investigate me. I was sworn in Dec. 8, 2006, and their investigation began in April 2007. It took 14 months to build the case."

He is accused of taking two cash payments totaling $60,000 from confidential informants Bruce Robbins of Jacksonville, a developer, and George McClure of St. Augustine, a land attorney.

Manuel, 63, remains free on personal recognizance,

Sheppard's motion on Thursday stated there are "voluminous recorded conversations" to examine before the trial and said that research cannot be completed before the scheduled trial date of Jan. 5.

His first motion, filed in November and granted soon after, was to move the trial from Dec. 5 to that date.

Magistrate Judge Howard Snyder had not ruled on the second motion by late Friday afternoon.

Sheppard's told the judge he'd "conferred with Julie Savell, assistant U.S. Attorney, and is able to represent that the government does not oppose (this) motion for continuance."

Manuel again said that the case against him is politically motivated.

"This case is very complicated," he said. "We don't have the answers yet, (But) we're just starting to unpeel the onion."




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