Margaret Hunter sentence delayed

SAN DIEGO — Federal prosecutors and attorneys for Margaret Hunter, wife of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, asked the court Tuesday to push to December her sentencing on one count of conspiracy.

The count names her husband as her sole co-conspirator.

In a two-page document filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, the lawyers asked to have the date for Margaret Hunter’s sentencing moved from Sept. 16 to Dec. 2. She pleaded guilty in June to the conspiracy charge, one of 60 counts included in an indictment against herself and her husband.

The indictment accuses Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and Margaret Hunter, his former campaign manager, of using more than $250,000 of his political money for personal expenses such as their children’s private school tuition, a vacation to Italy and his extramarital affairs.

Both Hunters pleaded not guilty in August 2018. Margaret Hunter changed her plea in June. Her husband’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 10.

As part of her plea deal, she agreed to help prosecutors. The court has deferred until his trial a ruling on whether she can testify.

The motion filed Tuesday said that the date change was being requested “so that the trial of Co-Defendant Duncan Hunter is able to be completed prior to Ms. Hunter’s sentencing hearing in light of her ongoing cooperation obligations.”

She faces up to five years in prison, but is expected to receive a lighter sentence due to her cooperation.