Epps Lawyer Asks For New Trial Date

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The lawyer for indicted former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps wants to push back the Jan. 5 trial date.

John Colette, in a motion filed Thursday, wrote he received 75 discs of government evidence against Epps Tuesday and needs more time to review it.

He’s asking U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate to delay trial for Epps and Brandon businessman Cecil McCrory.

Colette writes that he has discussed a delay with prosecutors and they don’t object. Continuances are common in federal court.

Epps and McCrory have pleaded not guilty to charges that McCrory gave Epps hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes starting in 2007 in exchange for Epps steering prison contracts to companies McCrory owned or consulted for. Epps faces hundreds of years in prison and millions in fines.