近距离内射合集

Attorneys on Tuesday hashed out final preparations for the federal trial next month for Sheryl Williams Stapleton more than five years after criminal allegations forced her resignation as New Mexico House majority leader.

A federal judge said Tuesday that court personnel have mailed jury questionnaires to 180 prospective jurors for Stapleton's trial, which he described as the largest jury pool he could recall.

"We may not have 120 jurors by Aug. 3 but I think we'll have enough jurors to get this thing done," U.S. District Judge James O. Browning said at a pretrial hearing attended by Stapleton and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, a Virginia businessman.

Stapleton's attorneys asked Browning in April to impanel 200 prospective jurors because of the "intense, consistent media attention" the case has received.

Stapleton, 68, a former Albuquerque Public Schools official, and Johnson were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 on 35 criminal counts, including allegations of bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the 近距离内射合集 States.

Stapleton鈥檚 case has attracted ongoing news coverage since the Albuquerque Democrat resigned from the New Mexico House of Representatives two days after search warrants were executed at her home in July 2021. She represented House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, from 1994 to 2021.

She was fired in August 2021 from her $79,000-a-year job at APS as coordinator and director of Career and Technical Education.

Also present in the courtroom Tuesday was her co-defendant, Johnson, owner of Washington, D.C.-based Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, who is described in the indictment as a close friend of Stapleton's. Both will be tried together.

Both Johnson and Stapleton have pleaded not guilty to the charges and deny any wrongdoing.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred Federici and Frederick Mendenhall will prosecute the case.

The indictment alleges Stapleton used her position at APS to direct funding to Robotics for the use of the company's software in classrooms. She then allegedly directed $1,152,506 from Robotics' checking account into accounts she controlled using blank checks provided by Robotics, the indictment alleges. The alleged violations took place from July 2013 to June 2020.

Stapleton's attorney, Ryan Villa, raised the possibility Tuesday that his client and Johnson potentially could be in opposition once the trial begins. Villa and his co-counsel, Ahmed Assad, argued in a motion last year that Stapleton should be tried separately from Johnson because he "accused Ms. Stapleton of stealing from him." Browning later rejected the motion and ordered the two tried together.

On Tuesday, Villa argued that he should be allowed to present opening statements after those of Johnson's attorney, Nicole Moss, because of the possibility that Johnson might attempt to blame Stapleton of wrongdoing. An 鈥渁ntagonistic defense鈥� would require Stapleton to alter her defense, Villa said.

Moss replied that she should be allowed to make opening statements after Villa for the same reason.

"If there's an antagonistic defense, that could be antagonistic to Mr. Johnson," Moss said.

Browning ruled from the bench that the U.S. Attorney's Office would present opening statements first, followed by Johnson's attorneys, then Stapleton's attorneys.

Browning also approved requests from defense attorneys that teams for Johnson and Stapleton be seated at separate tables during the trial and work in separate offices in the courthouse.

Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.