Correction officer to stand trial next year in steroid case.

A new trial date has been scheduled to begin early next year against an Oneida County correction officer accused of possessing and selling illegal steroids last summer.

Peter DiNardo, 42, of Deerfield, is now due to begin trial in Oneida County Court on Monday, Jan. 24.

Judge Barry M. Donalty scheduled the trial date Wednesday. The trial was initially set to begin in July, but the proceedings were postponed for nearly six months after DiNardo’s attorney, Michael Vavonese, was injured in a serious car accident.

DiNardo’s co-defendant, Zachary Lazore, 23, of Yorkville, already pleaded guilty to two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced in July to five years of probation.

According to prosecutors, both men were involved in the illegal sale of steroids by Lazore, who also was a county correction officer at the time, to a confidential informant in North Utica on July 22, 2009.

Although DiNardo is not accused of being present for the drug sale, investigators have said they watched Lazore stop at DiNardo’s residence shortly before heading to Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse in North Utica for the pre-arranged sale.

Lazore was terminated as a correction officer once the allegations surfaced, while DiNardo was suspended without pay.