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A Cook County judge on Wednesday rescheduled until next month her ruling on the fate of three current or former Chicago police officers on trial on charges of covering up the circumstances of Laquan McDonald’s fatal shooting by police.

Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson initially was slated to rule Wednesday in the hot-button case but delayed the decision until Jan. 15.

She gave no reason for the delay.

Ex-Detective David March, former Officer Joseph Walsh and Officer Thomas Gaffney stood trial before Stephenson on charges they filed false police reports to exaggerate the threat posed by the 17-year-old McDonald. Closing arguments took place Dec. 6.

Each is charged with official misconduct, obstructing justice and conspiracy. It is believed to be Cook County’s first criminal case stemming from the so-called police code of silence.

Over the course of the five-day trial, the officers’ attorneys argued that any discrepancies in the officers’ paperwork could be chalked up to innocent mistakes or differences of opinion.

McDonald was shot 16 times by then-Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated battery by a Cook County jury in a separate trial this fall. Van Dyke was the first Chicago cop to be convicted of murder for an on-duty incident in half a century. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18.

Special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes charged March, Walsh and Gaffney in June 2017, more than 18 months after the court-ordered release of a police dashboard camera video of McDonald’s shooting sparked citywide protests and the ouster of several high-ranking public officials.

March was the lead detective in the shooting investigation, Walsh was Van Dyke’s partner that night and Gaffney was among the first officers on the scene.

The official misconduct charge carries the most serious potential penalty — up to five years in prison. However, Stephenson also could impose probation if she convicts any of the officers on any of the three counts.

The now-infamous dashcam video — released more than a year after McDonald’s October 2014 shooting — showed the white officer opening fire within seconds of exiting his squad car as the black teen walked away from police with a knife in his hand. The video contradicted reports from officers at the scene that McDonald had threatened officers with the weapon.

The Rev. Marvin Hunter, McDonald’s great-uncle, came to court Wednesday thinking he would hear the judge’s decision. He left disappointed, unaware she had announced the delay days earlier.

“Certainly, there has been enough presented that any reasonable judge should be able to find these gentlemen guilty of the charges,” he told reporters.

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