MANDEVILLE, La. – There were more delays in the legal proceedings against former mayor Eddie Price Wednesday.
Last week, a federal judge delayed Price's sentencing for fraud and tax evasion until March 11.
And Wednesday a state district judge ruled to delay the perjury case against Price until February 12.
The state perjury charge revolves around the Gary Copp battery arrest and trial. Copp is the Spee Dee Oil Change owner who was convicted of beating a woman in a Mandeville bar.
The Louisiana State Attorney General's Office contends that Price used his influence as Mandeville Mayor to get Copp a reduced charge, then lied about it on the stand.
By law, for perjury to exist, the statement in question must be material to the case. Price's attorney, Ralph Whalen argues, Price's statements had no bearing on whether or not Gary Copp was guilty of battery.
"If you limit materiality to just the elements of the offense, that’s way too restrictive," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell told Eyewitness News Wednesday. "That's not what the law was designed to do. It's designed to keep people from lying on the witness stand about matters that are important in trial."
"The police officer in that Gary Copp trial was trying to explain why he initially wrote the defendant up for a simple battery as opposed to an aggravated battery," Caldwell added. "When he explained that it was because the Mayor told him to do that, they called the Mayor to rebut that, and the Mayor, we allege, lied about that, so how could that not be material?"
Ralph Whalen asked for the continuance in the case, and State District Judge AJ Hand granted it Wednesday.
State perjury cases rarely go to court, so there is very little case law to use.
Judge Hand said in court, "It’s interesting that both sides point to the same cases to support their cases."
"We anticipate that whichever way the judge comes down, it’s going to go up on appeal because it is a novel issue under state law,” said Caldwell. “I think the last case that they had that even talks about materiality dates back to 1910 under state law."
Judge Hand said in court that he needed the additional time as well, to be well versed in all applicable law. "That's one of the things about these types of cases that we're doing now, in the white collar arena is, we make new law."
Whalen asked for the perjury charges to be thrown out over the materiality issue. Judge Hand delayed a ruling on that motion until February 12.
Caldwell admitted, it's unlikely this case could get to court before Price is sentenced in federal court in March, but he said, he plans to push forward with the perjury case anyway. "We're moving forward regardless," Caldwell said.
