A federal judge in Birmingham, Ala., has granted a request to postpone Joran van der Sloot’s trial on extortion charges. The delay will give his defense team more time to prepare. Van der Sloot is the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. He is accused of attempting to extort money from the missing girl’s mother in exchange for information about her daughter’s whereabouts. The trial, which was originally scheduled for October, will now take place after December 4th.
Van der Sloot’s attorney, Kevin Butler, requested the continuance in order to have sufficient time to review the discovery, investigate the case, and properly prepare for the trial. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the request. The specific trial date will be determined by a separate order from a district judge.
The court agreed to grant the continuance, recognizing the defendant’s need to adequately prepare his defense and make an informed decision regarding a guilty plea or trial. While the trial does not focus on Holloway’s disappearance itself, the extortion and wire fraud charges are the only crimes that connect Van der Sloot to the case. Holloway went missing during a graduation trip and was last seen leaving a bar with Van der Sloot, who was a student at an international school on the Caribbean island of Aruba.
Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence in Peru after confessing to the murder of a Peruvian woman in 2010. He was extradited to the United States for the extortion trial.