Former New Orleans City Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt has gotten a reprieve — at least for now — on reporting to prison for a racketeering conviction.
A federal judge has agreed to look into whether jurors in her 2011 trial were affected by a prosecutor's anonymous online remarks.
Pratt was convicted in a plot to steal more than $1 million from taxpayer-funded charities.
She is among the federal defendants claiming their cases were tainted by the online comments of former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone.
Perricone resigned in 2012 after it was revealed that he was the source of anonymous online comments on various cases.
Pratt had been set to begin a four-year sentence next week.