Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Randy Henry's disciplinary hearing won't happen next week as scheduled and no new hearing dates have been set.
"The Patrol was prepared to proceed with the hearing as scheduled," a news release reported. "Late Thursday afternoon, Sergeant Randy Henry through his attorney requested the continuance."
And the attorney, C. John "Chet" Pleban of St. Louis, told the News Tribune in an email, "Of course they were ready to proceed as Sgt. Henry, through no fault of his own, did not complete the discovery that he needed to prepare to defend the accusations."
Earlier this year, the Patrol demoted Henry, a 29-year law enforcement veteran, from sergeant to corporal, and ordered him transferred from working on the Lake of the Ozarks to patrolling Truman Lake, 90 miles away from his Rocky Mount home.
The disciplinary hearing was scheduled after Henry invoked his right to challenge it - and he asked that the hearing, which normally is closed under the Patrol's regulations, be opened to the public.
Henry has been a vocal critic of the way the former Water Patrol was merged with the Highway Patrol in 2011 and of the training given to the Patrol's road officers who serve on the state's waters.
That criticism became public last year after Brandon Ellingson, 20, of Clive, Iowa, drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks when he fell from Trooper Anthony Piercy's boat on May 31, 2014, after Piercy arrested Ellingson for boating while intoxicated and was taking him to a Patrol substation at Toad Cove.
Ellingson was handcuffed and Piercy had put a life jacket on him, but that life jacket came loose after Ellingson fell into the lake.
His family has filed a federal lawsuit against Piercy and several Patrol officials, and Henry has given a deposition for the family in that case.
Pleban has said the Patrol's demotion is an attempt to silence Henry before the federal case goes to trial.
The Patrol has not released a copy of its formal charges, telling the News Tribune in a Sept. 21 letter, "These records are closed (under the state's Sunshine Law) as they are part of the employee's personnel records. The Patrol would only release those records with the written consent of the employee and, to date, Sgt. Henry has not provided a written release."
However, Pleban provided the News Tribune with a copy earlier this month, showing the Patrol's disciplinary action is for misconduct.
The formal charges against Henry read, "It is charged that you failed to abide by your oath of office when while on-duty during January 2015, you obtained information pertaining to a 2013 criminal investigation conducted by Cpl. Stacey Mosher, and without confirmation or certainty as to the facts, you later disseminated the information beyond the proper lines of communication to discredit Osage County Prosecutor Ms. Amanda Grellner, and unduly criticized the Patrol and its employees.
"It is further charged that on February 24, 2015, when questioned by Ms. Grellner about disseminating the information, you were not truthful in your responses, and following this meeting you contacted Mr. Larry Moreau and instructed him to lie about what he knew.
"Your conduct was unbecoming an employee of the Patrol, adversely affected operations, brought discredit upon you as an employee, and interfered with the functions of a prosecuting attorney."
Pleban told an Aug. 21 pre-hearing to the now-delayed disciplinary hearing that Henry qualifies as a "whistleblower" under state law, and the Patrol should dismiss its case against him.
This week, Pleban still was arguing about the need to take depositions of Amanda Grellner and her son, Garrett Grellner.
Henry has said Grellner - the first special prosecutor in the Ellingson drowning case - had not filed any charges as a kind of payback to the Patrol for not charging her son in a 2012 rape case.
But Ben Cox, the assistant attorney general representing the Patrol in the Henry discipline case, told the Aug. 21 hearing that the Patrol's DNA test found Garrett Grellner to be "100 percent innocent" of any involvement in the rape case.
Still, he said, Henry had posted on his Facebook page that Garrett "MAY be innocent."
The Grellners filed a lawsuit against the Patrol on Sept. 4, and on Sept. 8, Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green issued a temporary order blocking those depositions.
After a Tuesday afternoon hearing, Judge Jon Beetem set aside Green's temporary order and ruled Henry's subpoena for depositions be honored.
Neither Pleban nor the Grellners' lawyers said Friday if those depositions were part of Pleban's request for a delay.