The sentencing for former Hidalgo County Commissioner Sylvia Handy had to be continued on Monday following a couple rounds of courtroom drama on Wednesday afternoon.
Dressed in a white suit, a blue blouse, blue crocs and a rosary around her neck, Handy appeared for sentencing before U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Hinojosa in McAllen at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The former Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner resigned from her post earlier this year after pleading guilty in a federal harboring illegal aliens and tax evasion case.
Handy's defense attorney Al Alvarez asked Judge Hinojosa to postpone the sentencing following the last-minute discovery of a letter that Handy reported finding at her Weslaco-area home.
The letter was from Beatriz Garcia, Handy's babysitter and one of her "phantom employees".
Garcia reportedly wrote in the letter that she was responsible for the incident but prosecutors are allegeding that Handy put Garcia up to it and even paid for Garcia's attorney.
The letter matches the words in one filed in a pre-sentencing report but the one Handy found is single-space instead of double-spaced like the one in the report.
Testimony in court revealed that the single-spaced one is an original drafted by Handy back in 2007 when the investigation first began.
The testimony further revealed that Handy typed the original on a typewriter at her home, burned the typewriter ribbon and gave Garcia the document to type up on a computer and give it to authorities.
Testimony revealed that Handy had computers in her home but didn't want a file to be found in any follow-up investigations or searches of her home.
Judge Hinojosa said in court that he had concerns that the letter may be evidence of an attempt to obstruct justice.
"For years, this has been at her house," Hinojosa said. "And she finds it on the eve of sentencing?"
During the hearing, Judge Hinojosa criticized prosecutors for only charging Handy under harboring illegal alien and tax evasion charges instead of going after her under federal corruption charges.
Judge Hinojosa offered Handy a chance to retract the letter but she and her defense attorney Al Alvarez declined.
Handy and Alvarez were given 30 minutes to confer over the matter before testimony started.
Testimony started around 4:20 p.m. and lasted until almost 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Handy appeared confident during the proceedings, smiling and taking notes.
Judge Hinojosa admonished Handy when she shook her head during during the testimony of a witness Amelia Garcia, the sister of one of the "phantom employees".
Handy started looking at the audience but Judge Hinjosa told her, "Miss Handy...the court is over here."
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT