Free Motion to Continue Sentencing - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender 2 District of Arizona 850 W. Adams Street, Ste. 201 3 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Telephone: (602) 382-2727 4 MILAGROS A. CISNEROS 5 State Bar # 020410 [email protected] 6 Asst. Federal Public Defender Attorney for Defendant 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 vs. Bella Ben-Henry, Defendant. United States of America, Plaintiff, No. CR 04-1018-PHX-JAT MOTION TO CONTINUE SENTENCING (Fourth Request) (Unopposed)

Bella Ben-Henry, through undersigned counsel, respectfully requests that this Court continue her sentencing hearing for 45 days from the current date of September 11, 2006. The reason for this continuance is to allow defense counsel additional time to prepare for sentencing. As undersigned counsel advised the Court in Ms. Ben-Henry's third Motion to Continue Sentencing, undersigned counsel was to have collected additional documentation on behalf of Ms. Ben-Henry, to present at sentencing. While in the process of doing so, undersigned counsel learned, on August 23, 2006, that the cases of United States v. Carty, 453 F.3d 1241 (9th Cir. 2006) and United States v. Zavala, 443 F.3d 1165 (9th Cir. 2006) have been taken en banc together by the Court of Appeals. In addition, on August 25, 2006, the Court of Appeals invited supplemental briefing by the parties on six questions, almost all of which ask the parties to address several sub-questions. See Ninth Circuit Order, attached hereto as Exhibit A. Following a request for additional time by Mr. Carty

Case 2:04-cr-01018-JAT

Document 137

Filed 09/06/2006

Page 1 of 3

1 and Mr. Zavala, supplemental briefing is now due on September 25, 2006 and oral 2 argument is scheduled for October 6, 2006. Undersigned counsel is counsel of record 3 for Mr. Carty. 4 The supplemental briefing requested by the Court of Appeals in Carty 5 involves complex issues, all of which require extensive legal research and writing. 6 Moreover, almost none of the issues was originally briefed by the parties. 7 Accordingly, much of the research and crafting of arguments requested from Mr. 8 Carty is being done now for the first time. As counsel of record, undersigned counsel 9 has significant responsibility for drafting the requested supplemental briefing on 10 behalf of Mr. Carty, in addition to preparing for oral argument on October 6, 2006. 11 Because of the importance of the issues at stake, undersigned counsel is currently 12 devoting a considerable amount of time to Mr. Carty's case. 13 In order to prepare a comprehensive sentencing memorandum on behalf 14 of Ms. Ben-Henry, undersigned counsel will need more time than she can realistically 15 dedicate to Ms. Ben-Henry's case at this time. As the Court may recall, there are a 16 number of "downward departures" that Ms. Ben-Henry has leave to file pursuant to 17 her plea agreement. A 45-day continuance is requested, therefore, as that will give 18 sufficient time for counsel to finish collecting documentation and to competently 19 prepare Ms. Ben-Henry's sentencing memorandum. 20 Undersigned counsel has advised Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Drake 21 about this situation and Mr. Drake has indicated that he understands the constraints 22 on counsel for Ms. Ben-Henry and does not oppose a continuance of the sentencing 23 date for 45 days. 24 . . . 25 . . . 26 . . . 27 28 2

Case 2:04-cr-01018-JAT

Document 137

Filed 09/06/2006

Page 2 of 3

1 3 4 5 6 7 8

Undersigned counsel has left a message for U.S. Probation Officer Respectfully submitted: August 6, 2006. JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender s/Milagros A. Cisneros MILAGROS A. CISNEROS Asst. Federal Public Defender

2 Carlos Valentín, advising him of the filing of this motion.

Copy of the foregoing transmitted via 9 ECF this 6th day of September, 2006, to: 10 DAN DRAKE Assistant United States Attorney 11 Two Renaissance Square 40 North Central Avenue 12 Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 13 TIMOTHY C. HOLTZEN 14 245 W. Roosevelt Street Phoenix, Arizona 85003 15 Attorney for Co-Defendant Frederick Marianito 16 JOANNE F. LANDFAIR 331 N. First Avenue, Ste. 103 17 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 Attorney for Co-Defendant Ed Preston 18 Copy mailed to: 19 CARLOS VALENTÍN 20 U.S. Probation 401 W. Washington 21 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 22 BELLA BEN-HENRY Defendant 23 24 s/Milagros A. Cisneros M. Cisneros 25 26 27 28 3

Case 2:04-cr-01018-JAT

Document 137

Filed 09/06/2006

Page 3 of 3