Pilati sentencing pushed back to March

By Staff
Jason Cannon
A sentencing hearing for former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati has been postponed until March 6 at the request of his defense attorney, Bruce Gardner.
Pilati, 41, of Russellville, was convicted in November of depriving five men of their civil rights by touching them inappropriately during strip searches while he was in office. He was scheduled for sentencing today in U.S. District Court in Florence. The motion, which was filed Friday, said the defense team needed more time to address recent modifications in the pre-sentence report.
"…the Defendant respectfully requests an additional 35 days within which to review and file objections to its contents," the report read.
Judge John Ott, who is set to preside over the sentencing, granted the defense eight additional days.
"Basically, the Government increased its sentencing guidelines for this case. It practically doubled them," Gardner said. "The short of it is that it's the Government's position that this should be sentenced like it was a sex crime, even though Mr. Pilati wasn't charged with a sex crime."
Gardner said he would file objections to the new guidelines within the coming days.
This is the second time in as many months sentencing has been delayed. Pilati's January sentencing date was pushed back due to back surgery and subsequent rehabilitation.
Pilati is now scheduled for sentencing next Thursday at 1 p.m.