The break is expected to affect seven civil commitment trials. Six separate cases set for trial before Dec. 1 will go forward.

As part of the agreement, plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit withdrew a motion for preliminary injunction that asked the judge in the case to stop the civil commitment process, including filing new petitions for commitment.

Eric Slusher, a spokesman for the Missouri attorney general’s office, said officials agreed to allow continuances in the seven civil commitment cases leading up to the federal lawsuit trial in April “in the interest of saving resources and disposing of the motion for preliminary injunction.”

The civil commitment process was the topic of an in-depth story in the Post-Dispatch that outlined the case of Lester Bradley, a sex offender who has refused treatment at SORTS. He was committed despite a unanimous decision by a panel of state mental health officials that he wasn’t more likely than not to commit another sex offense if not held in a secure facility.