U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / The NLJ

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington on Friday delayed acting on a petition that challenges a military judge's order holding a chief defense lawyer at Guantánamo Bay in criminal contempt, a move that gave the military more time to resolve the conflict.

An hour before Lamberth was expected to rule on the habeas petition filed on behalf of General John Baker, a senior Pentagon official ordered Baker's release from confinement, according to the Miami Herald. At the same time, the official deferred punishment for Baker pending review of the contempt order by the military's convening authority, former Crowell & Moring senior counsel Harvey Rishikof.

Baker, the second highest-ranking lawyer in the Marine Corps, had refused Air Force Col. Vance Spath's order to rescind his decision to release three civilian lawyers from their representation of the accused mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. The lawyers had cited ethical reasons for leaving the case.