MARCIA LANE
marcia.lane@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 11/11/09
The U.S. District judge scheduled to sentence former St. Johns County Commission chairman Tom Manuel recused herself from the sentencing, according to court documents filed late Tuesday.
Judge Marcia Morales Howard's decision came a day after she granted defense attorneys' request for a continuance on Manuel's sentencing, which was supposed to take place Monday.
A new sentencing date has not been set. The proceedings have been continued until January.
The judge did not give a reason why she removed herself from the case and attorneys for the defense and prosecution could not be reached for comment.
Manuel's attorney Matthew R. Kachergus filed the continuance motion Monday. The prosecution did not oppose the motion.
Manuel was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville for sentencing on Monday before Howard.
Kachergus's motion said Manuel, a heart transplant survivor, has a series of medical tests scheduled for Nov. 20.
Also, "certain issues ... have arisen which have impeded counsels' ability to prepare for the sentencing hearing." Those issues were to be raised at the status conference Tuesday and were not made public.
The attorney also said the defense team was hampered because a mitigation specialist, engaged by Manuel, has been injured. Certain symptoms, including double vision, have prevented him from assisting the defense.
In August, Manuel pleaded guilty to one count of official corruption. He has remained free pending the sentencing hearing.
At the time, Howard said in a brief that federal defendants may remain free until their prison reporting date unless they are drug offenders or violent criminals.
His plea agreement includes a provision that Manuel would be sentenced "at the low end" of possible federal prison terms. If he had gone to trial and been found guilty, he might have received 20 years.
He has already satisfied the restitution part of his plea agreement by turning over $10,000, the amount he admittedly accepted in April 2008.
Shortly after Manuel took office in 2007, FBI agents initiated what turned out to be an 18-month investigation into his business dealings, using both video and audio surveillance.
He was filmed accepting $10,000 on one instance. After he accepted $50,000 in June during dinner at a Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant, FBI agents detained him outside the restaurant and seized the money.
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