Barber ally loses prison-delay bid

FORT SMITH -- A federal judge Wednesday denied a motion by an associate of former Northwest Arkansas developer Brandon Barber to delay the associate's reporting to federal prison until after his sentencing appeal has been heard.

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U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III wrote in an eight-page order that no substantial issues in James Van Doren's appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would justify delaying his surrender to federal prison officials Jan. 5 to begin serving a 15-month sentence.

An 8th Circuit opinion in 1985 set the precedent that a judge could allow a person to delay reporting to prison if questions on appeal were substantial enough that reversal of the conviction or the ordering of a new trial was the probable outcome.

Court documents showed that Van Doren's appeal focused on the argument that there was an inadequate factual or legal basis for his August 2013 guilty plea to money laundering, Holmes erred in denying Van Doren's motion to withdraw his guilty plea in June and erred in calculating the amount of money involved in his criminal conduct that formed the basis for the length of sentence Holmes gave him.

Holmes wrote in his order that Van Doren admitted in his change-of-plea hearing in August 2013 that he accepted a $64,000 check from Barber and deposited it in his bank account as part of a scheme to help Barber hide his assets from his creditors.

Van Doren wired $22,000 of the $64,000 back to Barber a month later.

Metro on 12/25/2014

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