The head of Alabama’s highway department will not go to trial next week as scheduled on the misdemeanor harassment charge he is facing.

Two days after Marshall County prosecutors asked for the trial to be delayed for John Cooper, director of the Alabama Department of Transportation, District Judge Mitchell Floyd granted that request. The new trial date is Jan. 3, 2024, according to Mitchell’s order Thursday morning.

Prosecutors had asked for a six-month delay because of a lawsuit over a land dispute that had “closely related facts” to the criminal case, according to the motion filed Tuesday by Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Kromann.

Mitchell acknowledged the lawsuit in his order as well as the fact that discovery had not taken place in the criminal case.

Cooper was arrested and charged with harassment on June 12. According to police records, Cooper confronted a man, Gerald Carter of Scottsboro, over a property easement. Police records said Cooper, 75, told Carter “he would shoot him, then threatened to whoop the victim’s ass.”

Cooper as well as his attorney, George Barnett, have declined to comment on the criminal case when contacted by AL.com.

A month after Cooper was arrested, South Sauty Creek Resort in Marshall County filed a lawsuit against Carter and other defendants over a property easement dispute. According to business records on file with the Alabama Secretary of State, Cooper is listed as the “incorporator.” The business was founded in 1987. Cooper’s name is not included in the lawsuit.

Barnett filed the lawsuit on behalf of South Sauty Creek Resort. No court date has been set yet in the lawsuit.

Cooper has led ALDOT since 2011.