Topeka ? A federal judge has given former Westar Energy Inc. chief executive David Wittig more time to respond to a demand by prosecutors that he be put in jail for allegedly violating terms of his release.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson pushed back a hearing on the government’s motion planned for Wednesday to Jan. 6.

Wittig has been free on bail while he appeals his July 2003 conviction for bank fraud, and is scheduled to be sentenced in a separate case in which he was convicted of looting the utility.

Prosecutors say Wittig violated a condition of his release last year when he sold $1.2 million in stock to his wife.