Former Augusta commissioner Sammie Sias was convicted last July, but his sentencing remains on hold as he continues plans for an appeal.
Sias’ case is unlikely to progress in U.S. District Court prior to March 9. That’s the new deadline set by U.S. Magistrate Brian K. Epps for Sias’ attorney, Jesse Owen, to file an amended motion for a new trial.
A federal jury took approximately two hours to find Sias guilty on July 29 of destroying evidence and lying to an FBI agent, with both charges carrying a 10-year sentence.
During the week-long trial, FBI agents testified Sias had deleted more than 7,000 files from a laptop computer after learning about their probe into his handling of public funds. Four days after deleting the files, Sias told FBI Special Agent Charles McKee he’d surrendered all records sought by authorities, but he had not, McKee said.
Sias’ former attorneys filed a motion seeking a new trial around Aug. 12, the same time Sias, representing himself, requested a court-appointed attorney.
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The court faces no deadline to sentence a convicted person. Judges have wide latitude to give them additional time to file appeals and have them heard by the court, said Melissa Redmon, director of the Prosecutorial Justice Program at the University of Georgia School of Law.
“The judge has the discretion to grant an appeal bond or not require the convicted person to not turn themselves in until sentencing,” Redmon said.
Court records don’t show Sias being issued a bond since the $50,000 appearance bond he was granted after he was indicted in 2021.
Ahead of sentencing, the court conducts a pre-sentence investigation to look at the defendant’s background for any aggravating or mitigating factors that could impact sentencing, she said. Sias’ report was filed in October.
The most likely cause of the delay is Sias changing lawyers after the trial, Redmon said.
“The thing that is probably delaying it the most is his having a new attorney,” she said. “It wouldn’t be unusual to give that attorney time to catch up.”
In an Aug. 31 order, Epps stayed the ruling on Sias’ motion for new trial, appointed Owens to the case and extended the deadline to file an amended motion for a new trial through Oct. 14.
Owens filed a motion for another extension Oct. 14, and the deadline was extended to Dec. 13. In December, Epps granted another extension to March 9.
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Sias’ original motion for a new trial claimed the evidence was insufficient for a conviction. It cited a case, U.S. v. Katakis, which found that deleting computer files is not “concealment” if the deletion can be undone, and that the missing files could have been restored using Windows Recovery. The motion also contended testimony about evidence from the underlying FBI investigation was “highly prejudicial” and should not have been allowed, because it had nothing to do with what Sias would be charged with.
Prosecutors argued the deleted files McStotts found on a volume shadow copy of the laptop hard drive were not recoverable, and that information about the underlying investigation was necessary to show the deleted files mattered.
Deleting a file named “Invoices SPLOST VI 150,” for example, means nothing to a jury without knowing McKee was investigating misuse of special purpose, local option sales tax, or SPLOST, funds, they said.
The trial demonstrated the local government’s lack of oversight of public funds. Sias claimed he kept no receipts, even for large items, and Recreation Director Maurice McDowell testified they were not required.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
