A federal judge granted a brief continuance Thursday morning, until 1 p.m., during a sentencing hearing for Jenifer O’Neal, the former Management and Budget director who in December was convicted on charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering conspiracy.
O’Neal’s hearing comes two days after U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kearney sentenced her codefendant, former V.I. Police Commissioner Ray Martinez, to 10 years in prison for his role in a kickback scheme that included himself, O’Neal and David Whitaker, a cybersecurity contractor with a long history of fraud who became the government’s cooperating witness in the case against Martinez and O’Neal. Whitaker was sentenced to 22 months Wednesday.
The leadup to O’Neal’s sentencing was marked by missed deadlines and last-ditch attempts to seal her sentencing memorandum — and accompanying character letters from her supporters — which Kearney denied. On Wednesday, he ordered O’Neal and her attorney, Dale Lionel Smith, to file the materials “forthwith.”
The materials still hadn’t been filed by Thursday morning, and Kearney initially said he would only be able to rely on the presentence investigation report and the government’s sentencing memorandum in which they recommended a seven-year sentence. Kearney also said that it was “curious” that O’Neal declined to provide financial information to the probation officer who compiled the presentence report, sparking what became a heated exchange with Smith.
“You made the decision not to respond to a court request,” Kearney admonished, adding that Smith didn’t get to decide which orders to comply with. “Please don’t hurt your client any further.”
Smith and O’Neal continued to raise what they believed were important corrections to information in the presentence report that Kearney said created “a whole variety of issues,” and he later asked O’Neal if she was satisfied with her representation.
“I have issues, your honor, to be quite honest,” she said, citing previous conversations she said she’d had with Smith about the importance of meeting court deadlines. O’Neal said finding out that her sentencing memo hadn’t been filed was “a major concern.”
“How do I proceed right now? I don’t know,” she said. She eventually asked Kearney to postpone the sentencing hearing in order to resolve her issues with missing information in the presentencing report, at which point Kearney said any continuance would likely require that O’Neal be remanded into custody.
Smith told the court that “friction” between lawyers and clients is normal.
“That’s all this is,” he said. “It will be resolved, and she will be sentenced.”
The hearing was adjourned until 1 p.m.
