A prosecutor for the Florida Commission on Ethics asked the judge presiding over the Andrew Gillum case to delay a decision in his hearing later this month to accommodate a key witness who may not be able to testify until August.

Last week, Administrative Law Judge E. Gary Early denied a request by Elizabeth Miller, the Ethics Commission advocate, to postpone the former mayor’s hearing from April 24-26 until August so that his former close friend, lobbyist Adam Corey, can testify.

Corey can’t testify until then because his lawyer, Chris Kise, is under doctor’s orders not to work following his hospitalization for cardiac problems and may require additional surgery and treatment, Kise’s law firm said in an April 3 email to the Ethics Commission.

Judge Early, in a Monday ruling, said Miller's request appears "premature" and that he will make a decision at the conclusion of Gillum's hearing. Early said at that time, Miller can present evidence on Corey's availability "and whether a reasonable — and short — period to effectuate that participation is warranted."

Miller, in documents filed Friday, asked that the judge keep the record open in the hearing, deferring any judgment, so that he can consider Corey’s testimony, which would be given later in a deposition.

“Mr. Corey is a critical witness to the facts and issues raised in this matter and his testimony is relevant, material and necessary to a full disclosure of the facts at issue,” Miller wrote.

Gillum and the FBI:

Gillum’s lawyer, Barry Richard of Tallahassee, opposes the request, saying in court documents filed Monday that keeping the record open would be unfair and allow the advocate months to prepare a rebuttal.

“Granting the motion to hold the evidence open until August would render the denial of a continuance meaningless, and (Gillum) would still be forced to wait several months with a cloud hanging over his head,” Richard wrote.

Corey joined Gillum on trips to Costa Rica and New York City in 2016 that prompted an ethics complaint against the former mayor. In January, the Ethics Commission found probable cause that Gillum violated civil ethics laws by accepting illegal gifts on the trips in the form of a free villa stay in Costa Rica and tickets to “Hamilton” and a boat ride in the Big Apple. Gillum denies wrongdoing and has said he paid his own way during the outings.

During the Ethics Commission’s investigation into the matter, Corey did not make himself available for an interview with the Ethics Commission because he’d been subpoenaed in the FBI’s long-running probe into alleged public corruption in Tallahassee. However, he provided an affidavit saying Gillum never paid him for the villa stay and that an undercover FBI agent posing as a developer named Mike Miller paid for the NYC outings.

Miller wrote that to date, the parties have not subpoenaed Corey for a deposition or testimony because he's not in the state of Florida. But she said Corey is not evading service papers and “is and always has been” willing to testify. She added that Kise has been Corey’s lawyer throughout the ethics investigation.

“Due to the complexities involved and the longevity of the attorney-client relationship between them, Mr. Kise is the only attorney who can effectively represent Mr. Corey,” Miller wrote. “Indeed, to engage new counsel at this stage would prejudice Mr. Corey and result in unjustifiable expense.”

But Richard said contrary to Miller’s filing, Corey has not been willing to testify. He also said there were no “complexities” in the case that require specialized knowledge unique to Kise.

“Only two factual issues are raised from the commission’s finding of probable cause: whether (Gillum) received a free gift with a value in excess of $100 during a trip to Costa Rica; and whether he received such a gift during a trip to New York,” Richard wrote. “Mr. Corey either has knowledge relating to those two issues or he doesn’t. It’s that simple.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.