The attorney for Huntsville city councilman Devyn Keith, scheduled for trial Wednesday on four misdemeanor shoplifting charges, has asked the judge to delay the case.

The reason cited in the court filing? The attorney’s computer will not play video provided by prosecutors in the discovery process of the incident involving his client.

The motion was filed late Monday afternoon by Huntsville attorney John Taylor and District Judge Patty Demos has not yet ruled on the request. Taylor wrote in the motion that prosecutors did not object to a delay in the case.

Keith, in his second term on the council, was arrested Feb. 2 and charged with one count of fourth-degree theft at Walmart. Keith turned himself in to police on Feb. 8 after additional arrest warrants were issued on the same charges. He has since apologized for being a “distraction.” Keith has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On three of the four charges, police in the arrest warrants described the merchandise taken as “groceries and sundry items” totaling $468.46. In the remaining charge, Keith is accused of taking a pair of headphones valued at $22.67.

On Feb. 23, Keith was removed as the council’s finance chair by Council President John Meredith.

Taylor said in the motion that prosecutors provided copies of the video on both a flash drive and a compact disc.

Taylor wrote, “when attempting to view the videos, (he) discovered they would not play on the computer because of software issues.” At that point, Taylor said he “took the videos to other computers in an attempt to view the videos and discovered the videos would play on an older computer which had Windows Media Player and that Windows Media Player is no longer provided on newer versions of Windows software such as Windows 11.”

Taylor said that while he has viewed the videos, he has not been able to view them with Keith. The attorney also said the videos “had to be viewed and downloaded in such a way to make it unclear what incident the video was related to.”

Providing copies of the video, Taylor said, was intended to alleviate that problem.

Taylor also noted that Keith had not previously requested a delay in the case.