Judge agrees to postpone Vrdolyak trial until September

A federal judge agreed Tuesday to delay until September the trial of former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak.

Vrdolyak asked for the delay last week because the U.S. Supreme Court is considering arguments over the breadth of a law his attorneys say is “central” to his case.

“There is little doubt that the court will limit the reach of the statute — and by extension the unbounded discretion it currently provides prosecutors,” lawyer Catharine O’Daniel wrote in a motion on Vrdolyak’s behalf.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said Tuesday “it makes sense” to push back Vrdolyak’s trial rather than risk a re-do after the Supreme Court makes its decision.

“Nobody likes to do it twice,” St. Eve said.

Vrdolyak is now set to go to trial Sept. 10 for tax evasion and impeding the IRS. His lawyers said he was indicted using the law at the center of a tax case argued before the Supreme Court on Dec. 6. At issue is whether the law requires that there was a pending IRS action or proceeding — like an investigation or an audit — of which a defendant was aware when he acted to impede it.