A subpoena issued for an aide to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville relating to a high-profile criminal case in north Alabama has been withdrawn pending a judge’s approval.

Brian Naugher, hired in 2021 as senior defense liaison for Tuberville, had been subpoenaed by John Cooper – the director of the state transportation department who has been charged with misdemeanor harassment in an apparent property dispute.

George Barnett, Cooper’s attorney, filed a one-sentence motion in Marshall County district court on Monday asking for Naugher’s subpoena to be withdrawn. No reason was given.

Naugher, who is also president of the Marshall County board of education, retired as a colonel in the Alabama National Guard after a 31-year career.

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.

Cooper’s trial in municipal court was scheduled for Wednesday before being postponed last week until Jan. 3, 2024, at the request of Marshall County Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Kromann. In asking for the delay, Kromann said a lawsuit filed in July had “closely related facts” to the criminal case and the prosecutor asked for a six-month delay in the criminal case to allow the civil case to play out.

South Sauty Creek Resorts filed the lawsuit over a property easement against three defendants – one of whom, Gerald Carter, brought the criminal complaint against Cooper. Cooper’s name does not appear in the lawsuit, though he was listed as the incorporator of South Sauty Creek Resorts when the business started in 1987, according to business filings with the state.

No court date has been set in the civil case.