A Miami court this week set Nov. 20 as the date for sentencing Kadeem Maynard for the alleged cocaine-smuggling conspiracy that he admitted undertaking last year with his mother Oleanvine Maynard and then-Premier Andrew Fahie.

Mr. Maynard’s sentencing hearing — which, like his mother’s, was originally slated for Aug. 21 — was postponed on Aug. 18 but not rescheduled until this week.

On Aug. 28, it was first scheduled for Sept. 8, but then it was reset for Nov. 20 without explanation.

The sentencing for his mother, who was the managing director of the BVI Ports Authority at the time of the alleged crimes, was previously pushed forward to Jan. 18.

Her new date is 10 days after Mr. Fahie’s trial is scheduled to start in the same Miami court.

D’Arsey Houlihan, the public defender representing Ms. Maynard, said the sentencings were among multiple matters that the court postponed from Aug. 21.

“The judge is currently in the middle of a trial,” Mr. Houlihan told the Beacon on Aug. 18. “She will be starting the trial again [Aug. 21], and will be in trial all day. She has cancelled or postponed all of the hearings that she had scheduled for [Aug. 21], other than the trial that is currently taking place.”

Admitting guilt

When the Maynards pleaded guilty in June, they both signed factual proffers describing a plot with Mr. Fahie to traffic thousands of kilograms of cocaine through Virgin Islands waters to the United States.

In Mr. Maynard’s factual proffer, he admitted to coordinating meetings between Mr. Fahie, Ms. Maynard, and a US Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source between March 16 and April 28, 2022.

During these meetings, Mr. Fahie and the Maynards agreed to allow the confidential source — who they believed to be a member of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel — to port vessels containing 3,000-kilogram loads of cocaine in Tortola for 24 to 48 hours until the drugs could be shipped to Puerto Rico en route to the mainland US, according to both Maynards’ factual proffers.

The Maynards added that the DEA source provided them each with $10,000 in cash as a gesture of “good faith.”

New filing

This month, however, Mr. Maynard has asked the court for leniency and attempted to downplay his role in the alleged cocaine-smuggling conspiracy, while his mother has filed several letters from character references.

Mr. Maynard’s Miami defence attorney also took issue with a probation officer’s pre-sentence investigation report and described Mr. Maynard’s part in the conspiracy as largely that of an introducer.

“Mr. Maynard’s role in the charged offence was clearly minor,” attorney J. Rafael Rodriguez claimed in an Aug. 10 response to the probation officer’s report, which itself was not made public. “Mr. Maynard spoke to [the confidential informant] and provided information to his mother. Mr. Maynard made an introduction of the [informant] to his mother, who worked as the managing director of the BVI Ports Authority.”

Mr. Rodriguez — who has declined to comment — also took issue with the guideline imprisonment range of about 11 to 14 years calculated by the probation officer.

Instead, he asked the court to use a guideline range of about six to seven years.

The sentence, he added, should also consider Mr. Maynard’s remorse, his cooperation with prosecutors, and his time in custody since his arrest in April 2022.

“Mr. Maynard submits that a sentence below the current guidelines range is warranted in this case,” the filing stated. “Such a sentence would clearly correspond to the seriousness of the offence, promote respect for the law, and provide just punishment for the offence.”

The filing also described Mr. Maynard as a hardworking entrepreneur and family man and included letters from himself; his wife of five years, who is mother to his three older children; and the mother of his youngest child.

Oleanvine Maynard

Ms. Maynard’s court docket does not include any similar filing criticising her pre-sentence investigation report.

She did, however, submit eight letters from character witnesses: her daughter, granddaughter, brother, sister, three nephews, and a St. Thomas acquaintance who misspelled her first name.

Daughter Karisma Maynard described her mother as a “huge part” of her life.

“I cannot remember a day that my mother wasn’t there for my children and I before her date of incarceration, and even now she still tries her best to keep in touch to make sure we are doing well,” the daughter wrote.

Unlike her son, Ms. Maynard apparently has not submitted a letter of her own to the court.

Fahie trial

Mr. Fahie, meanwhile, has continued to maintain his innocence and is scheduled for trial on Jan. 8 after three successful requests to delay the proceeding.

The Maynards’ guilty pleas, however, signalled bad news for him: Both Maynards agreed to cooperate with authorities, who could potentially require them to testify against Mr. Fahie.

Through his Miami attorney, Mr. Fahie has declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings.