BISMARCK, N.D.—Sentencing has been postponed a second time for a man convicted of being a phony lawyer after he objected to a pre-sentence report and failed to provide information to authorities, a judge says.
A federal jury in Bismarck convicted Howard O. Kieffer of Duluth, Minn., in April on charges of mail fraud and false statements in impersonating a lawyer. A June 30 sentencing date had been set in Bismarck but was delayed until July 30 to allow more time to prepare a pre-sentence investigation report. The report typically includes the defendant’s criminal and personal history.
Kieffer’s sentencing is now set for Aug. 14. He faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Conmy said in court documents that Kieffer has had “numerous objections” to the report and claimed he needed more than the 14 days allowed under federal law to file the objections.
Kieffer had asked that sentencing be delayed until October, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hagler said.
Conmy refused to do that. He wrote that federal probation officials “encountered some difficulties” in getting information from Kieffer and setting up an interview with him.
Court documents indicate Kieffer may be trying the judge’s patience. Conmy wrote that he sympathized with Kieffer’s need to prepare for sentencing but that Kieffer “may be responsible, at least in part, for (the) situation as it now stands.”
Kieffer’s attorney, Joshua Lowther, of Savannah, Ga., did not return telephone calls from The Associated Press on Friday.
Conmy in June rejected Kieffer’s appeal to throw out his conviction or order a new trial. Jurors had convicted him after two hours of deliberation.
Kieffer argued that the evidence did not support his conviction and accused prosecutors of making improper remarks during closing arguments. He also said court officials were slow to respond to his request for documents.
Conmy rejected those claims, and wrote in his order, “This was not a close case.”
Authorities said Kieffer lied on his application to practice law in federal court and represented clients in at least 10 states. Court records say he represented a number of clients, including a former St. Louis Blues hockey player who pleaded guilty in East St. Louis, Ill., to plotting to kill his agent, and a Colorado woman who was convicted of soliciting the murder of her former husband.
At Kieffer’s trial in Bismarck, two witnesses told the jury that they each paid him at least $20,000 to appeal prison sentences for their loved ones, only to find out later that he was not a lawyer. Attorneys testified that they thought Kieffer was one of their colleagues because he seemed to know about federal court matters and because they saw him at attorney training seminars.
Kieffer was charged in North Dakota last year after one of his clients, a man accused of child pornography, wrote to a federal judge in Bismarck, raising questions about whether Kieffer had ever been a licensed attorney.
Court records show Kieffer was convicted earlier of theft and filing false tax returns and served time in a federal prison from 1989 to 1992.
