Judge’s order status conference after White’s lawyers, Hendricks does not respond to prosecution investigations

On Friday, government lawyers presented a motion requesting that the Court schedule a State Conference for the trial against Calvert White and Benjamin Hendricks for fraud charges, which will currently begin next month.

Prosecutors say that after several failed attempts to determine if the defense lawyers will seek to delay the start of the trial, the intervention of the court has become necessary.

At a state hearing on January 23, prosecutors say, Mr. Hendricks indicated that a continuation of the trial would be needed. The Vidoj contacted a few days to confirm if this would be the case. There was no response from Darren John-Baptiste, which represents Mr. Hendricks or Clive Rivers, representing Mr. White.

The Court denied an initial application of a State Conference, instead, asked the parties to meet and consult between them on whether the trial should be retreated or not. According to the reports, that meeting, held on February 11, ended with a promise of both defense lawyers to confer their clients and provide a firm response before February 13.

When that response did not materialize, the government made a second request for the Court to convene a status conference to force a defense response about whether they are prepared to go to trial next month. Judge Mark Kearney granted the motion, programming a state conference at 1 PM on Tuesday.

However, before lawyers meet with Judge Kearney, they must meet no later than 11 am on Tuesday morning to consult each other. In his order to establish today, the judge punished lawyers Ríos and Jean-Baptiste for his lack of timely response to the investigations of an opposite lawyer, “contrary to what is expected of the members of this bar.”