On Thursday, Guy Philippe's lawyers filed a motion with the court to postpone the trial for several weeks. The reason given by the defense is the handing over in recent days by the Government's lawyers of numerous documents, including several Guy Phlippe records as well as nearly 20 years' trial-related documents that the FBI intends to file as evidence in the trial and the time required for the defense to analyze all of these documents.
Lawyers of the US government did not object to this request, the court granted the defense motion and set a new date for the trial of Senator Elect Guy Philippe on 1 May. In its decision, the Court explained that "[...] a continuation is justified by our quest to offer a fair trial to the accused [...] and the right of the accused to have an expeditious trial. The delay for the accused to plead guilty, if he wishes to plead guilty, is postponed to April 17, 2017. The trial will begin on May 1, 2017 and will last for two weeks."
