HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett has rescheduled for Sept. 22 the criminal trial of former Mississippi Department of Marine Resources manager Tina Shumate.
The Sun Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1kbnzko ) Shumate was scheduled to be tried June 9 on charges of fraud and conspiracy to defraud the government. She asked for more time to prepare her defense because investigators seized personal items from her home, including computers, during a January 2013 search.
Her attorney told the court he learned April 29 he would need a court order to retrieve the items for trial preparation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not object to the delay.
Shumate resigned as head of MDMR’s Coastal Resource Management and Planning office less than two weeks after her home was searched. She has denied any wrongdoing.
In May, Starrett agreed to separate trials for Shumate and Joe Ziegler, who also worked for the marine resources agency.
Shumate and Ziegler are the two remaining defendants in the public corruption case. Others, including the former agency director, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Two other defendants, former agency executive director Bill Walker and his son, Ocean Springs businessman Scott Walker, have pleaded guilty to one conspiracy charge in the five-count indictment handed down against the four.
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Information from: The Sun Herald, https://www.sunherald.com
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