By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – The Alabama Court of the Judiciary agreed Wednesday to delay the ethics trial of Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas, which had been scheduled to start next week.
The court granted the delay one day after the state attorney general's office stepped aside from prosecuting the case because of a conflict with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission over how the prosecution should be handled. Now the commission must find a new prosecutor.
Thomas had been scheduled for trial July 25. He has been suspended since the commission brought charges in March that accused him of using his office to help family and friends who were in trouble with the law. Once the Court of the Judiciary hears his case, it has the power to remove him from office, impose other penalties or exonerate him. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)