(NEW YORK) -- A federal judge has indefinitely adjourned New York City Mayor Eric Adams' fraud criminal trial, but has not yet dismissed the case after last week's request from the Department of Justice.
"In light of the Government's motion and the representations of the parties during the conference, it is clear that trial in this matter will not go forward on April 21," U.S. District Judge Dale Ho wrote Friday.
Ho adjourned the case against Adams indefinitely but decided to leave in place the federal corruption indictment hanging over the head of the mayor of America's largest city.
Ho appointed a private lawyer -- Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy PLLC -- to argue in favor of keeping the case alive, ordering briefs be filed by March 7 and tentatively scheduling oral argument on March 14.
On Wednesday, Bove and Adams appeared in court in New York City for a conference with Ho, who must approve the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss Adams' criminal case.
Ho said he would not immediately make a decision during the hearing, adding, "I'm not going to shoot from the hip from the bench."
Bove denied the push to dismiss the charges were part of a quid pro quo, as alleged in a letter by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Danielle Sassoon, related to Adams promising the Trump administration to increase enforcement of illegal immigration. Sassoon resigned in the wake of that letter, as did several members of the DOJ's Public Integrity Section when they were asked to sign off on the dismissal.
Bove said his decision to drop the charges against Adams were a "straightforward exercise of prosecutorial discretion" that was made because the indictment has meant Adams cannot communicate with federal authorities responsible for immigration enforcement.
After the hearing, Ho wrote Friday that he came to the conclusion the government's position deprives the public of the "adversarial testing" required in the justice system.
"Here, the recent conference helped clarify the parties' respective positions, but there has been no adversarial testing of the Government's position generally or the form of its requested relief specifically," Ho wrote.
"Normally, courts are aided in their decision-making through our system of adversarial testing, which can be particularly helpful in cases presenting unusual fact patterns or in cases of great public importance," he added.
Ho ordered the DOJ and Clement to argue whether the legal standard has been met to dismiss the case, the consequences of not dismissing the case and what additional steps the court should take.
To accommodate Adams' "responsibilities and the burden of continued court appearances," Ho ruled Adams need not attend any future court proceedings.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.