Embattled interim Bay County medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert will have to wait a few months for a hearing he hopes will clear his name and help him keep his job.
He was to have a Division of Administration Hearing on Oct. 24, but that day has been pushed back to Jan. 15, 2008.
Attorneys on both sides said they needed more time, said Kristen Perezluha, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Though he still has one battle before him, Siebert said he felt vindicated by the boot-camp trial which acquitted eight former boot camp employees in 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson's death.
Siebert was fired by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission in June after a probable-cause panel report found he had violated state law. The report said Siebert didn't do all he claimed he'd done in his autopsy of Martin Lee Anderson. The Panama City teen died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after he was hit and restrained by drill instructors at the Bay County boot camp, an incident captured on videotape.
Prosecutors tried to prove Anderson died at the hands of drill instructors who clamped his mouth shut and held ammonia capsules to his nose for several minutes.
Siebert, who said Anderson died of natural causes associated with sickle-cell trait, denied all the allegations against him.
Siebert, who was rehired on an interim basis by State Attorney Steve Meadows, is hoping the hearing will help him save his job. A search committee, headed by Meadows, is looking for a permanent District 14 medical examiner, and Siebert has put his name in the hat.
That search has a Dec. 28, deadline, but it could be extended.