SOUTH BEND — A judge Tuesday postponed sentencing one of the five teenagers charged in the violent carjacking of two Holy Cross College students because his court-appointed public defender wanted more time to review the case.
It was the second time in just more than a month that sentencing was delayed for 18-year-old Donte Jones.
He had been scheduled for sentencing Nov. 8, but his initial public defender withdrew from the case, citing a conflict of interest.
Jones had initially pleaded guilty to beating the victims, stuffing them into a car trunk and then driving them to ATMs and withdrawing money from the victims’ bank accounts. As part of his plea agreement, he would testify against the other defendants, whose cases remain pending.
But Jones, unhappy with some parts of his plea agreement, later filed a motion to withdraw it. At Tuesday’s hearing, Jones’ current public defender, attorney Neil Weisman, who took the case a month ago, told Frese he had not had a chance to review the court’s tape recording of the hearing in which Jones had pleaded guilty.
