A joint memo filed by prosecutors and defense in the college basketball fraud case resulted in the sentencing date for former Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson to be pushed back from April 24 to May 30.
Memo filed by in federal court today requests the sentencing of USC's Tony Bland, Arizona's Book Richardson and Ok State's Lamont Evans be pushed back to May 10. Memo says evidence that emerges in April 22 trial may assist the court in "determining an appropriate sentence."
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 26, 2019
A second trial involving college basketball figures is scheduled to begin on April 22, just two days before Richardson was scheduled to be sentenced.
"It was more of a logistical thing than anything else," said Craig Mordock, Richardson's Louisiana-based attorney. "It would have been very difficult to stop the trial and do a sentencing at 3:30 in the afternoon."
Mordock said there is probably an advantage for the judge to hear all of the evidence from the April 22 trial before sentencing Richardson and two other former assistant basketball coaches, Tony Bland and Lamont Evans. However, he said that may not make a difference in the sentencing Richardson receives.
"I donβt know that it helps him any but I don't think it hurts him," Mordock said. "It just pushes him back."
RichardsonΒ reached a plea agreementΒ in January in which he pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge that normally carries a sentencing of 18-24 months in prison, though it is possible Richardson receives less.
