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.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is reviewing options for opening an investigation in Martin Lee Anderson case's death.
An all-white jury on Oct. 12, found eight defendants not guilty of felony manslaughter charges in the Panama City boot-camp trial.
"There's no doubt there was negligence," McCollum said.
But as for filing other criminal charges the Attorney General doesn't see any other options, but he said he'll keep digging. He plans to speak with Anderson's parents, Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, and their attorney Ben Crump and ask them if there's anything he can help do to remedy the situation.
He also plans to give an inspector general's report on the case by the Department of Juvenile Justice a hard look. McCollum said that report has not yet been made available to the public.
Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after running laps at the boot camp. The 14-year-old was hit, kneed and dragged by drill instructors while a camp nurse watched. The incident was captured on videotape.
An initial autopsy said he died from a blood disorder, sickle cell disease, while a second autopsy said he was suffocated by drill instructors who held ammonia capsules to his nose and clamped his mouth shut for several minutes.
The case has been racially charged since Anderson was black, five defendants were white, two black and one Asian.
U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller and the Department of Justice is investigating the case for civil rights violations.