After having less than two days to review the documents provided by the State Attorney General’s Office, Ralph Whalen, attorney for former Mandeville mayor Eddie Price, requested the status hearing on the former mayor’s state perjury arrest scheduled for Wednesday morning be delayed.

The State Attorney General’s Office was agreeable to the delay, and the status hearing was rescheduled for Feb. 12 at 1 p.m.

District Judge A. J. Hand was also agreeable with the requested continuance, saying it will give him the time he needs to educate himself on the charges being brought against Price and his co-defendant, David Hurtsell. Hand told both sides that this case is unlike any other he has tried and he wants to make sure he understands the law and the details surrounding the case fully before it comes backs before him.

He said there is not a lot of precedence for this case but he intends to read all of the cases referenced by both sides.

“I will fully read those cases by then (Feb. 12),” he said during a bench conference with both sides. “I find it interesting that both sides point to the same cases to support their side.”

Price is accused of intervening in the arrest of former Speedy Oil Change Owner Gary Copp.

He reportedly asked Hurstell to arrest Copp on a misdemeanor offense instead of a felony charge. He then, according to the state Attorney General’s Office, allegedly lied when he took the stand during Copp’s trial and denied that he had tried to influence the case against Copp.

Whalen appears ready to argue that Price’s testimony concerning the alleged phone call was irrelevant in the state’s case against Copp and it is therefore not material to the case. In order for someone to commit perjury the lie he or she told must be “material” to the case.

Hand acknowledged when talking with both sides that the two sides seem to have two different definitions of “materiality.”

“I think the broader definition of materiality is valid, but I need to make sure,” he told the attorneys.

Price has already pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges, admitting to have accepted lavish gifts and trips from two companies that do business with the city, using campaign funds and city money for his personal use and failing to file a 2007 tax return. He faces up to 25 years in prison on these charges.