The chief judge of the federal court for the Southern District of Georgia will hold a hearing on a defense lawyer's request for extensive information about an illicit affair between a federal agent and a federal prosecutor in Savannah.

Chief Judge Lisa Godbey Wood set the hearing for Feb. 25 to explore issues surrounding a five-year-long affair between Lou Valoze of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Cameron Ippolito, an assistant U.S. attorney in Savannah.

Brunswick defense lawyer Amy Lee Copeland sought the information after U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver notified her in a Jan. 26 email that Valoze and Ippolito had “engaged in an affair” during an undercover ATF investigation and that Valoze's testimony at the trial of two of Copeland's clients and the sentencing of a third client “constituted a potential source of impeachment as to his bias.” Complying with an order by the Southern District's judges, Tarver later disclosed to defense lawyers a far more extensive letter he had sent privately to them about the possible impact of the affair on four criminal cases.