WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday set a sentencing date for a former campaign aide to District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray, despite a prosecutor’s request to not schedule the hearing because the investigation is continuing.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled a Sept. 24 sentencing for Howard Brooks, who pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI about under-the-table payments made to a minor candidate in the 2010 mayoral race. Brooks is one of two former campaign aides to plead guilty in an ongoing federal investigation into the campaign.
Glenn Ivey, a lawyer for Brooks, urged the judge to schedule a date because he said his client had business opportunities he wanted to pursue and so he could move forward with his life. Brooks’ plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of up to six months.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Chubin Epstein asked the judge to put off the hearing while the investigation continues. She said Brooks stood to benefit by not being sentenced right away, and said the ongoing probe might provide the judge with some needed context about Brooks’ actions. But invoking a rule governing grand jury secrecy, she would not get more specific about the investigation or Brooks’ cooperation.
“We do think it would be to the benefit of both parties … for us to have a little more time,” Epstein said.
Brooks and another campaign aide, Thomas Gore, pleaded guilty last month to charges involving illicit payments made to the campaign of Sulaimon Brown, a minor candidate in the race. The money was intended to keep Brown in the race so he could continue making negative attacks on then-incumbent, Adrian Fenty, who was seeking a second term. Brown has alleged that he was promised a position with the Gray administration in exchange for lambasting Fenty on the campaign trial, but Gray has said he was promised only a job interview.
Brown was ultimately appointed to a position but was fired after less than a month, and went public with his allegations after that.
Gray has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of the payments, but the allegations have dogged his tenure as mayor. The investigation is one of several that federal prosecutors have launched into D.C. politics; two councilmembers, Harry Thomas Jr. and Kwame Brown, have resigned in the last six months and pleaded guilty to felonies. And in March, investigators raided the home and offices of Jeffrey Thompson, a well-connected government contractor who was a major contributor to Gray’s campaign.
Ivey and Epstein declined to comment after the status conference.
