POSTED: Friday, April 9, 2010 - 10:47am
UPDATED: Friday, April 9, 2010 - 6:58pm
UPDATE:
EL PASO - An El Paso federal court judge has postponed the trial against District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez to June, despite him ruling Sanchez is fit to proceed with the case.
Federal Court Judge Frank Montalvo postponed the case, which was supposed to start May 3, to June 21st.
This, after he ruled Friday morning that Gilbert Sanchez is competent to assist in his own defense.
The hearing Friday was to determine Sanchez' competency after an apparent health incident, though lawyers for Sanchez would not say what incident spurred the psychiatric exam order.
Despite media reports, Sanchez said this hearing was never about his mental capacity and actual competency, but rather about his physical health to continue on, he said outside the courthouse Friday.
"Everybody goes through daily life of stress. Now compound it with work, the indictments, the civil lawsuits," he said. "When you affect one part of the body, it tends to affect another part of the body."
Sanchez is also facing sexual harrassment charges from a former District Clerk's Office employee, and is currently running to hold his seat in a runoff election to be held Tuesday.
We will have more details tonight on NewsChannel 9.