It's been one year since a former HISD chief operating officer and a landscaping contractor were found guilty by a jury in federal court, but they haven't been sentenced yet.
Sentencing has been delayed for a former top administrator at the Houston Independent School District who was convicted of bribery one year ago in federal court. Former HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and Anthony Hutchison, a landscaping contractor for the district, were found guilty by a jury in federal court last April, but have not been sentenced yet.
Legal analyst Steve Shellist, who is not associated with the case, said it's not uncommon in federal court for sentencing to take this long in these types of cases. "Probably the majority of the cases move quicker than that, but when you've got a complex case with a lot of testimony, with a lot of documents, with a lot of transcripts for a court reporter to kick out, it's not uncommon for these things to get continued again, again and again," Shellist said. Busby was accused of putting pressure on other HISD employees to use Hutchison's landscaping company for district projects in exchange for payments. Federal investigators say the kickback scheme defrauded HISD taxpayers out of millions of dollars over the course of almost a decade.The case dates back to 2020, when search warrants were executed in February of that year. By the end of 2021, Busby and Hutchinson were indicted for conspiring to engage in a bribery scheme. After a four-week trial involving more than 50 witnesses, Busby and Hutchinson were found guilty on all the charges brought against them, which include bribery, conspiracy, witness tampering, and filing false tax returns.After being found guilty, both men have new attorneys representing them. Busby and Hutchinson have filed motions, each about 100 pages long, requesting an acquittal or a new trial and accusing the government of failing to prove the charges. The government filed a response disagreeing with all the claims made by the defendants, asking the judge not to side with them. A judge hasn't ruled on the motion yet. 13 Investigates reached out to the attorneys for Busby and Hutchinson, and they did not provide a comment. 13 Investigates also reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which also did not have a comment for this story.
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