The original date for Reksid’s jury trial was July 11, 2011.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. O’Malley, who is prosecuting the case, and court-appointed defense attorney Mark B. Hanson filed a stipulated motion to continue Reksid’s jury trial.
In their separate attached declarations, O’Malley told the federal court about the medical condition of a government witness, while Hanson relayed Reksid’s request for off-island treatment in Hawaii.
O’Malley said a 72-year-old government witness is currently undergoing several dental procedures.
O’Malley added he was told by the witness’s dentist that “in her medical opinion, it would not only be painful for the witness to take a trans-oceanic flight during the week of July 11, 2011, but that it could jeopardize the witness’s health.”
O’Malley did not disclose the name of the witness.
Hanson told the federal court that Reksid, his client, has a confirmed reservation for a flight from Saipan to Hawaii on July 2, 2011 with a return date of Sept. 1, 2011.
Reksid has a confirmed appointment with his doctor in Hawaii on July 5, Hanson added.
The correspondence from Reksid’s doctor on Saipan indicated that if surgery in Hawaii is necessary, Reksid could be there for six to eight weeks, Hanson said.
Hanson also informed the federal court that off-island medical referral is common in the CNMI which lacks both an MRI machine and doctors with “the particular expertise necessary to handle special medical conditions.”
The federal government has filed a superseding indictment on March 18, 2011, charging Reksid with seven counts of wire fraud and one count of bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds which he denied.
