SHALIMAR - Murder suspect Jeffrey Hutchinson said Wednesday that he'd rather have no lawyer than the one he has now.

But Okaloosa Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron isn't ready to let the former Army Ranger represent himself in court.

At least not yet.

Barron held a hearing Wed-nesday to settle Hutchinson's efforts to dismiss his third set of lawyers since being arrested on four counts of first-degree murder in the September 1998 shotgun slayings of Renee Flaherty, 32, and her children, Geoffrey, 8, Amanda, 6, and Logan, 4, at their John King Road home near Crestview.

Under tight security, manacled to a chain around his waist and also wearing leg irons, Hutchinson was so outspoken during Wednesday's proceedings that the judge at one point threatened to gag him after the defendant repeatedly interrupted Barron and lawyers in the case.

Hutchinson was first represented by the Public Defenders Office, and later by veteran defense lawyers Nick Petersen and John Harrison.

Former Assistant Public Defender Stephen Cobb was appointed next. Cobb's wife, lawyer Kimberly Cobb, also is representing Hutchinson.

"It's just a stalling tactic," prosecutor Bobby Elmore said of Hutchinson's stormy relationship with his lawyers.

Hutchinson cited numerous reasons for wanting Cobb to step down as his lawyer in a March 14 letter to Barron.

But most of those reasons, such as Hutchinson's reluctance to rely on an insanity defense, were rendered moot when Cobb explained that the defense

has already notified the court that it will not use an insanity defense.

Advised that he also had a right to self-representation, Hutchinson said he wanted to do just that. But Barron said he must first hold a hearing to determine whether the defendant has the ability to serve as his own lawyer.

Barron set the hearing for May 31.