The trial of nine defendants and their participation in crimes involving an illegal gambling operation and money laundering in Oklahoma City has been delayed.
The Associated Press is reporting that a request made by the defense to delay the trials of the nine defendants have been granted by a federal judge, effectively moving the trial from November to April next year.
The defense asked for the delay in proceedings in large part because of the complexities of the case and the mountain of evidence they had to sift through, explaining to the judge that they had just received 2,400 hundred pages, 38 CDs and DVDs and recorded phone calls of evidence.
Defense attorneys scored a break when U.S. District Judge David Russell agreed to move the proceedings to April of next year to give the defense more time to prepare.
Late last month, the nine individuals, identified as Teddy Dryden Mitchell; Dryden Ryley Mitchell; Billy Nick Mitchell; David Bruce Loveland; Jerry Wayne Gilchrist; Michael Lee McCullah; Justin Edward Musgrove; Richard Allen Hancock; and Gary John Gibbs, were all named in an 81-count federal indictment for their involvement in an illegal gambling business that operated a number of supposed high stakes poker games and sports betting in OKC while also using an illegal Internet gambling website as part of their operations.
A group of these people, including Teddy Mitchell, Dryden Mitchell, Billy Mitchell, Justin Musgrove, David Loveland, Michael McCullah, and Jerry Gilchrist allegedly hosted illegal poker games in one of their residences and taking in rake from the players that would go out to play in their games. Teddy Mitchell, in particular, also was alleged to have acted as a traditional bookmaker for his clients, taking in bets in person or over the phone. He and Dryden Mitchell have also been pointed as providing their clients with access to a Costa Rican sports betting Internet website owned by Gortation Management. The company, which the indictment describes as a “clearing house for bookies throughout the United States”, also allowed both Teddy and Dryden Mitchell serve as “recruiters” for the site.
In the event the defendants are charged, Terry and Dryden Mitchell, Loveland, Hancock, and Gibb, could each face a prison sentence of up to 20 years with a corresponding $500,000 fine. Meanwhile, the younger Mitchell, as well as Gilchrist, McCullah, and Musgrove are all in line to serve five years behind bars each with a $250,000 fine.
