NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been granted a delay in sentencing on federal corruption charges.
U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan on Thursday set Nagin’s sentencing hearing for July 2 instead of June 11.
Nagin was found guilty in February of money laundering, fraud, bribery and other charges related to his two terms in office. His attorney, Robert Jenkins, asked for the delay this week, saying he needs more time to respond to a lengthy pre-sentence investigation report filed with the court in early May.
In a response filed Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Coman said Nagin has had plenty of time to prepare for sentencing since his Feb. 12 conviction.
“The PSR in this matter is no more voluminous than in other cases and the information pertains to Nagin himself and, accordingly, should come as no surprise,” Coman wrote.
But, Berrigan granted the delay in a brief order Thursday that gave Jenkins until June 13 to file any objections to the pre-sentencing report, which has not been made public.
Nagin, a Democrat, served from 2002-2010, including when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. He was convicted on 20 counts, some carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Jenkins had asked for the sentencing delay on Tuesday, the same day U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan issued an order that Nagin will have to forfeit more than $501,000 in ill-gotten gain from the various bribery and kickback schemes prosecutors outlined in his February trial.
Prosecutors say Nagin took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including money, free travel and granite for a family business.
Nagin testified that key witnesses had lied, and the prosecutors misinterpreted evidence.
Nagin has been residing in a suburb of Dallas, where his wife, Seletha, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection from creditors on May 5.
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