As per The Republic, a federal judge has granted a postponement for Jon Schaffer’s sentencing hearing until April 5 due to medical reasons. The ICED EARTH guitarist is set to undergo an undisclosed medical procedure followed by a recovery period.
However, despite Schaffer‘s attorney’s request to postpone the sentencing hearing pending the outcome of the Joseph W. Fischer v. United States case, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta has declined the request. Originally slated for February 20, the hearing’s delay was sought due to the Supreme Court’s agreement to hear the Fischer case in December. The case questions whether prosecutors and the Department of Justice have been correctly utilizing a 2002 law intended for financial crimes in the prosecution of January 6 defendant Joseph Fischer. A ruling in Fischer‘s favor could cast doubt on the law’s application to other January 6 defendants, including Schaffer.
In the order, Mehta wrote: “The sentencing hearing presently scheduled for Feb. 20, 2024, is hereby vacated due to the health considerations outlined in defendant’s motion. The court will not stay sentencing until resolution of United States v. Fischer. There are other procedural mechanisms by which defendant can seek to delay any term of incarceration, if one is imposed. …And the public interest weighs in favor of not delaying sentencing until the outcome of Fischer.”
In April 2021, Jon Schaffer and the U.S. government reached a plea agreement, which significantly contributed to the 18-year imprisonment of Stewart Rhodes, the head of the right-wing extremist organization known as the Oath Keepers. Schaffer‘s plea deal encompassed a lighter sentence in return for revealing information about his co-conspirators in the insurrection. Moreover, there’s a possibility that Schaffer might be included in the Justice Department’s witness protection program as part of the agreement.
