Michael Thomas, a federal jail guard responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself, leaves federal court Monday Nov. 25 in New York. Photo: Craig Ruttle/AP

A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday pushed back the trial of two Metropolitan Correctional Center employees charged with falsifying records the night Jeffrey Epstein died in custody, as defense attorneys continue to investigate "systemic" failures at the Bureau of Prisons.

The brief adjournment, which moved the planned April trial date to June 22, came at the request of lawyers representing Tova Noel and fellow MCC guard Michael Thomas, who said they needed at least six additional months to review discovery and mount their defense in the case.

Prosecutors for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office had consented to a shorter delay, but argued that a adjourning the trial until October was "unnecessary and unwarranted."

Defense attorneys Montell Figgins and Jason Foy have consistently said that their clients were being used as "scapegoats" to distract from deep-rooted problems within MCC and the broader system that made it possible for a prisoner of Epstein's stature to take his own life last summer while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Both said Thursday that discovery in the case was voluminous and that they needed more time to investigate working conditions and other issues at the MCC.

"Because of the amount of time it's going to take for us to conduct our own investigation … that's the main crux of the reason," said Foy, a Hackensack, New Jersey-based attorney who represents Noel.

"The defense is in the best position to assess how much time we need to perform our functions on behalf of our clients."

Thomas' attorney, Figgins, echoed those comments, noting that it took prosecutors more than three months to investigate and charge his client following Epstein's Aug. 10 death in a special housing unit at MCC.

"It's going to take us more than 90 days to do the same amount of work," he said.

Figgins also said that he plans to file a motion to dismiss the Nov. 19 indictment against Thomas for selective prosecution, on the grounds that his client was being singled out for the kind of behavior that was "rampant" and widely accepted within MCC at the time. It was not clear Thursday whether Foy and Noel planned to join in that motion.

The routine hearing suddenly turn contentious when Foy began to spar with U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York over scheduling.

The judge had initially set a new June 8 trial date, but Foy voiced concern that unexpected delays could interfere with a trip he hoped to take overseas with his family later that month. Figgins, similarly, said he had already booked a family cruise and would be out of the country until June 15.

Torres adjusted the trial date to June 22, and refused to budge when Foy protested the apparent conflict with family commitments, telling him, "you also have an obligation to zealously represent your client."

"We'll start June 22," Torres said firmly, suggesting that he could instead use Skype to check in with his family abroad.

"No, no, no, no," Foy responded. "I will not use Skype."

The fiery exchange continued to escalate, as Foy asked to heard over Torres' repeated admonishments to sit down.

"No, you will sit down," Torres said in a raised voice.

"You are trying my patience, counsel. Sit down," she yelled before ending the hearing.

Thomas and Noel are free on $100,000 bond, but have been placed on leave at the jail, pending an administrative hearing. They have both pleaded not guilty to six counts of submitting false records during an overnight shift from Aug. 9 to Aug. 10 to make it appear as though they were conducting mandatory checks of inmates, when in fact they had not.

Epstein, the Manhattan and South Florida-based financier accused of conducting an underage sex trafficking ring, was found hanging in his cell Aug. 10 and was pronounced dead at a local hospital in what the city medical examiner later ruled was a death by suicide.

Figgins and Foy have complained that higher-ranked officials have never been held to account, and questioned the working conditions that led guards to skimp on their duties.

According to court documents, prosecutors have turned over approximately 25,000 documents and hundreds of hours of video footage. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Lonergan said Thursday that the facts at issue spanned only narrow window of time and pushed back against the notion that working conditions at MCC were relevant to the case.

"This is a very focused, single-incident indictment about what happened over 14 hours," she said.

Trial in the case is expected to last about a week.

Read More:

Jeffrey Epstein Guards Plead Not Guilty to Faking Records on Night of His Death in US Custody

Attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein Guards Wary of Their Clients Being Singled Out for System Failure

Jeffrey Epstein Dead by Suicide in Manhattan Federal Lockup