Case 3:16-cr-00693-DB Document 250 Filed 12/22/16 Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
EL PASO DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
V.
JAMES ANDERSON (2)
JOHN TANNER (3)
MARK PHILLIP TEGMEYER (4)

CRIMINAL NO. EP-16-CR-0693

JOINT MOTION OF DEFENDANTS JAMES ANDERSON, JOHN TANNER, AND

MARK PHILLIP TEGMEYER TO CONTINUE TRIAL SETTINGUNOPPOSED BY
DIANE THOMAS (5) AND NANCY LOVE (6)
TO THE HONORABLE DAVID BRIONES, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS:
COMES NOW, Defendants John Tanner, James Anderson, and Mark Tegmeyer, by and
through undersigned counsel, and file this Motion to Continue, and would show this Honorable
Court as follows:
I.
As this Court is aware, this is a very document intensive case that involves over one
hundred and thirty thousand documents that were produced in the Governments discovery
alone. That amount does not take into consideration the over two million documents that cocounsel for Defendant Anderson provided to the Government, involving TEA documents that
were not in the Governments discovery, and which may contain exculpatory evidence.
In addition, during the course of this alleged conspiracy, there were many audits that
were performed by the TEA, the Department of Education, and EPISD. These audits, at the time
of their production, showed that the school officials, including Defendants, were acting properly.
These audits are clearly helpful to the defense and constitute Brady material. All of these audits
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have not been produced, and the audits are central to the issues of cheating that are alleged in this
case. Defense counsel must obtain, possibly by subpoena, the remaining audits, determine which
are relevant and helpful to the defense, and then send copies to the Government. All of this takes
a considerable amount of time. Defendants believe that we are entitled to such audits and the
audits are in the control of the Government.
Additional time is needed in this case for trial preparation and for negotiation. The
Government has been investigating this case for over seven years and Defendants have had this
case for less than one year. Defendants have been diligently going over discovery and are
actively seeking relevant information that may not be in the discovery provided by the
Government. This case involves years of conduct and involves matters that happened over ten
years ago. The case has already been designated as complex, and additional time is necessary for
counsel to fulfill their constitutional duties under the Sixth Amendment. All remaining
defendants are in agreement that additional time for defense preparation is necessary to protect
Defendants due process rights and to insure that all of the defendants receive a fair trial schedule
that does not inherently favor the Government.
II.
In addition to the foregoing, this case will involve over fifty witnesses, many of whom
live outside of the El Paso area. Coordination of witnesses will be logistically difficult if this trial
should occur during the school year. For this reason, Defendants respectfully request that this
case be scheduled during the summer months when school is not in session. Additional time in
this case is thus needed for trial preparation and negotiation.

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III.
This motion is not made for the purpose of delay, but in the interests of justice. For these
reasons, Defendants request that the Court grant this motion for continuance and reschedule the
jury selection and trial setting until summer 2017.

Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Elizabeth Rogers
ELIZABETH ROGERS
State Bar No. 17165400
509 N. 6th Street
Alpine, Texas 79830
Phone: (432) 538-7070
Cell: (432) 386-6567
lizrogersalpine@yahoo.com
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT TANNER
Thomas W. Mills, Jr.
THOMAS W. MILLS, JR.
MILLS & WILLIAMS, L.L.P.
5910 N. Central Expressway, Suite 980
Dallas, Texas 75206-5141
Phone (214) 265-9265
Fax (214) 363-3167
tmills@millsandwilliams.com
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT TANNER
Robert J. Perez
Robert J. Perez
rjperezlaw@yahoo.com
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT ANDERSON
Luis E. Islas
Luis E. Islas
luiseislas48@hotmail.com
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT TEGMEYER

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AND CONFERENCE

I certify that I have conferred, or reasonably attempted to confer, with all parties listed
below, about the Proposed Motion to Continue, with the following results:
AUSA Robert Almonte (on behalf of the Government): Unopposed to the Motion but requests
that the resetting date be left to the discretion of the Court.
AUSA Debra Kanof: Unopposed to the Motion but requests that the resetting date be left to the
discretion of the Court.
Robert Perez (Defendant Anderson): Joining the Motion.
Thomas Mills (Defendant Tanner): Joining the Motion.
Luis Islas (Defendant Tegmeyer): Joining the Motion.
Mary Stillinger: Unopposed but not joining the Motion.
Sherilyn A. Bunn: Unopposed but not joining the Motion.
I certify that on the 22nd day of December, 2016, I electronically filed the foregoing
document, via the CM/ECF system, with the Clerk of the Court, which will send notification of
the filing to the following:
AUSA Debra Kanof
AUSA Rifian Newaz
AUSA Robert Almonte
Darren Ligon
Robert Perez
Thomas Mills
Luis Islas
Mary Stillinger
Sherilyn A. Bunn
/s/ Elizabeth Rogers
ELIZABETH ROGERS
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT TANNER

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Case 3:16-cr-00693-DB Document 250-1 Filed 12/22/16 Page 1 of 1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
EL PASO DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
JOHN TANNER (3)

CASE NO. EP-16-CR-0693

ORDER FOR DEFENDANTS ANDERSON, TANNER, AND TEGMEYERS MOTION

TO CONTINUE TRIAL
Upon motion of the counsel for John Tanner, James Anderson and Mark Tegmeyer, and
with no objection from Defendants Diane Thomas and Nancy Love, as well as no opposition
from the Government, and for good cause shown, it is hereby ORDERED that the Motion to
Continue Trial is GRANTED, and trial is now scheduled for ____________________, 2017.

DATE: ________________________

____________________________
DAVID BRIONES
UNITED STATES DISTRICT
COURT JUDGE