Defense Hints at Flawed Discovery in Upcoming Federal Bribery Case

During a Monday hearing in a pending federal bribery case, a lawyer representing former director of the Office of Management and Budget Jenifer O’Neal said he might ask the court to separate his client from her codefendant, former Police Commissioner Ray Martinez.

With four months to go to the start of a scheduled trial, a U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Teague called on the prosecutor and defense attorneys to report Monday on their pretrial preparations.

O’Neal, along with Martinez, is accused of accepting unauthorized payments from a vendor providing cybersecurity services to government agencies, including the Virgin Islands Police Department. Jury selection for a trial where they are expected to appear as co-defendants is scheduled to begin Dec. 3.

Parties in the case appeared by way of livestream video in an open courtroom at the Ron deLugo Federal Building. Teague said he expected the trial to take about two-and-a-half weeks and that it was important for the legal teams to complete the discovery process on time. During discovery, the defense and the prosecution exchange evidence produced over the course of building their respective cases.