Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has asked a Manhattan federal court judge to delay his September 8 sentencing date, when he will learn his fate after being convicted for sexting a minor.
The New York Post reported that Weiner’s attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown sent a letter to Manhattan federal Judge Denise Cote requesting the date be moved to October 6, in order to give his legal team more time to prepare a sentencing recommendation “that best addresses the need for continuing treatment.”
Weiner, 52, pleaded guilty in May to a single count of transferring obscene material to a minor, in this case a 15-year-old North Carolina girl with whom he is accused of carrying on a months-long online relationship. In interviews with the Daily Mail, the girl and her father said that Weiner was aware of her age.
The embattled ex-lawmaker’s sexting scandals date back to 2011, when he resigned from his New York congressional position after using his public Twitter account to send an explicit photo to a woman. His subsequent run for New York City mayor in 2013 was again derailed by allegations of extramarital online relationships with multiple women, which Weiner admitted had continued after he left Congress.
Weiner’s estranged wife, former top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, filed for divorce on May 19, the same day that Weiner pled guilty to the federal obscenity charge. According to the New York Post, the couple’s first divorce hearing is scheduled for September 13, moved from its original earlier June date to follow Weiner’s sentencing hearing. If Weiner is successful in his bid to delay his sentencing hearing, it is unclear whether the divorce hearing will be moved again. The New York Daily News reported that Devlin-Brown did not mention the divorce proceedings in the request filed Thursday.
In May, Weiner agreed not to appeal any prison sentence between 21 and 27 months. According to the New York Post, although the conviction could equal a sentence of up to ten years, Weiner’s sentence will likely be much shorter because of his plea agreement. As part of the agreement, Weiner will be required to register as a sex offender.
Feature photo: Associated Press
