SHALIMAR - Attorneys for Jeffrey Hutchinson will argue that the 37-year-old Gulf War veteran was insane when he shot and killed his live-in girlfriend and her three children at their Crestview area home last year.

Thursday, Okaloosa Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron postponed the trial of the accused quadruple murderer from mid-January to March 27.

Defense attorney Stephen Cobb asked for the delay, saying he will need time to review results of medical testing being performed on Hutchinson today at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center by Dr. William Baumzweiger, a California psychiatrist and expert on Gulf War illness.

Baumzweiger stated earlier this year that the former Army Ranger suffers from several conditions related to exposure to chemical and biological weapons in the Gulf War that may have prevented him from realizing what he was doing when he killed his family.

Prosecutor Bobby Elmore agreed to the delay, acknowledging that DNA testing being done by the state has not been completed. A state psychiatrist will also evaluate Hutchinson, Elmore said.

Hutchinson is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the Sept. 11, 1998, slayings of Renee Flaherty, 32, and her children, Geoffrey, 8, Amanda, 6, and Logan, 4.

In other court matters Thursday, Barron gave attorneys for convicted murderer Daniel Jon Peterka 45 more days to file an amended post-conviction relief motion, one of a number of motions filed in death penalty cases. The conference was held by telephone in the judge's chambers.

Peterka was sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair almost 10 years ago, but his appeals had been in limbo for the past two years.

Peterka killed his roommate, John Frederick Russell, 27, at their Lewis Turner Boulevard residence, shooting him with a .357-caliber pistol on July 12, 1989. He then wrapped Russell's body in a kitchen rug and dumped it on the Eglin Air Force Base Reservation near Bluewater Bay.

In January 1998, a judge granted Peterka's attorneys more time to file the motion. In November 1998, Peterka got new attorneys. Today, the amended motion still has not been filed.

Thursday, one of Peterka's attorneys asked for even more time, saying a private investigator still must interview Peterka's family members in Nebraska. Information from those discussions might be included in the motion. Barron refused to allow further delays.

"The court simply cannot allow a case to stand in this posture for this length of time," Barron said. "I'm not in a position to delay this matter any longer. We need to move on through this process."