A Texas judge swept aside a possible block Wednesday to a Dec. 1 trial for Minnesota Vikings MVP Adrian Peterson's felony child abuse case.

Retired Texas Judge Jeff Walker declined the prosecution's request to take Judge Kelly Case off the case.

Montgomery County, Texas, prosecutors had claimed Case is biased against their office. District Attorney Brett Ligon noted that Case had recently referred to him as a "media whore." Peterson's defense attorneys wanted to keep Case on the bench, saying the prosecutor hadn't met the high standard necessary to remove the judge.

Walker agreed with the defense, saying prosecutors failed to meet the requirements necessary to remove Case. Walker forbade prosecutors from making one of their arguments — what they believe to be a history of bias by Case. Walker said the prosecutors had not raised those issues in a timely manner.

At Peterson's first hearing a couple of weeks ago, Ligon asked Case to recuse himself. The judge declined, saying the "whore" comment was an attempt at humor.

Walker, a retired judge from Fort Worth, was then brought down to the Houston area to decide whether Case could preside at Peterson's trial.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson

Peterson, 29, didn't attend the hearing Wednesday in Conroe, Texas. When he first appeared in court two weeks ago, Case set a tentative trial date of Dec. 1. Peterson's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said the running back wants a speedy trial so he can get back to work on the football field.

Peterson, an East Texas native, is accused of felony injury to his 4-year-old son when the boy was visiting him in Texas last May. The star admitted to whipping his son with a switch, a tree branch with the leaves removed, leaving red marks and wounds on his thighs, buttocks and back. But he has told investigators he was using the same discipline that was used on him as a boy, not committing a crime.

Peterson is on the NFL commissioner's exempt list and hasn't played for the Vikings since the second regular season game. He is still receiving his $11.7 million salary. The Vikings are deep into an abysmal season without the star. They're now 2-5. Peterson played in the first game of the season, one of the two Vikings' victories.

Texas prosecutors also are seeking to revoke Peterson's $15,000 bond because he admitted before a drug test two weeks ago to "smoking a little weed." Results of the ensuing drug test have not yet been made public.

Now that Case's status as the presiding judge is settled, he can conduct a hearing on the bond revocation. Hardin said no date has yet been selected for that hearing.

Previously, a pretrial hearing date was tentatively set for Nov. 4, with the topics undetermined.