Trial concerning former mayor Jasiel Correia’s chief of staff and campaign manager postponed to March after beginning on Monday

The trial concerning Gen Andrade, former mayor Jasiel Correia’s chief of staff and campaign manager, has been postponed.

Jury selection had begun on Monday, however, a case of COVID-19 among the witness pool has now pushed the trial back to March 7, 2022. The announcement was made early this morning.

In December of 2020, an emotional Andrade changed her plea to guilty in a virtual hearing which led to proceedings in June where a judge did not accept the plea that was agreed to by both parties.

Andrade, who is facing four counts of extortion, two counts of extortion conspiracy, one count of bribery, and one count of false statements, had agreed to be sentenced to 12 months of supervised release and a fine, along with time served in exchange for her guilty plea. The agreement also involved agreeing to testify for the prosecution in the case against Correia, however, Andrade was never called to testify.

Judge Woodlock did not accept the deal as he felt the citizens of Fall River did not receive a faithful employee in addition to her initially lying. Woodlock felt that a plea agreement should consist of jail time and felt the $10,000 fine was too low.

After the agreement was rejected, both sides could not come to a resolution.

Correia was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to six years in prison and three years of supervised release in September and is scheduled to report on January 10th to begin serving his sentence after receiving an extension. Correia also is attempting to repeal the decision.