After a four-hour hearing, the sentencing for former Hidalgo County Commissioner Sylvia Handy is expected to continue on Monday afternoon.
Handy appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Hinojosa in McAllen at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The former Precinct 1 Commissioner resigned from the post back in March after pleading guilty in federal court to one count of harboring an illegal alien and one count of tax evasion.
The scandal had been dubbed as the "Phantom Employee" scandal because Handy had illegal immigrants on the county payroll but actually doing work at her home.
During the Wednesday afternoon hearing, defense attorney Al Alvarez presented Judge Hinojosa with a letter that Handy had recently found at her home.
The letter was reportedly typed up back in 2007 by one of Handy's "phanton employees" who, in the letter, took the blame for the scandal.
Proscutors contend that Handy put the woman up to typing it and promised to make sure she would get a light sentence.
Judge Hinojosa heard testimony about the letter from attorney Fernando Saenz and Amelia Garcia, the sister of the woman who typed it.
Garcia testified that Handy typed up the letter on a mechanical typewriter at her home so that during any following investigation that authorities could not find a file on any of the six computers at her home.
Judge Hinojosa adjorned the sentencing hearing shortly after 7:15 p.m. Wednesday and ordered it to continue at 2 p.m. Monday.
The courtroom was packed with family members, reporters and community activists.
Fern McClaughterty and about eight other members of the group Objective Watchers of the Legal System (OWLS) were in the courtroom.
They said they'll be also be back on Monday.
"We're hoping we don't have Hidalgo County style...that's what we're used to," McClaughtery said of the sentencing. "We're hoping that there will be some type of punishment...that way...maybe other people won't do this in the future."
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