SHALIMAR - A man accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend and her three children with a shotgun two years ago near Crestview wants the judge off his case.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, 38, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Renee Flaherty, 32; Geoffrey Flaherty, 8; Amanda Flaherty, 6; and Logan Flaherty, 4; on Sept. 11, 1998. Their bodies were found in the rented John King Road home where Hutchinson was living with Flaherty and her children.

Hutchinson, who has remained in the Okaloosa County Jail without bond since the night of the murders, filed the motion to recuse, or remove, the judge, himself. It was filed Wednesday afternoon without the knowledge of his court-appointed de-fense lawyers, Stephen and Kimberly Cobb.

On Thursday, the trial judge, Okaloosa Circuit Court Judge G. Robert Barron, set a Dec. 15 hearing on Hutchinson's motion. Cobb said other motions in the case, including several he expects to file soon, are expected to be handled at that hearing.

Cobb said he was unaware of Hutchinson's move to remove Barron from the case in a motion asking for "an unbiased judge from another county" to be assigned as trial judge.

"It's not totally unexpected given the history of this case," Cobb said.

Now delayed for more than two years, the trial is set to begin Jan. 8.

The case has been marked with a number of legal twists and turns, ranging from suggestions that Hutchinson's

lawyers could raise Gulf War Syndrome as a defense for their client - a former Army Ranger who served in the Persian Gulf War - to Hutchinson's repeated attempts to fire his lawyers.

The Cobbs are Hutchinson's third set of defense lawyers, and he repeated earlier accusations in his motion to remove Barron that his lawyers are "working hand in hand with the prosecution," a charge he leveled at lawyers who represented him earlier.

Last spring, Hutchinson sought to represent himself, changed his mind, then almost took that tack again last summer before admitting that he could not defend himself.

A state lab worker's stroke, prosecutor Bobby Elmore's July heart attack and a lack of courtroom space for a trial expected to last two weeks were only some of the reasons the trial was not held last summer.

"I can't say what we will do," Elmore said Thursday. "The judge showed it (Hutchinson's motion) to me this morning while I was in his office on another matter. I would guess that it's unlikely that it's truly legally sufficient because it's a pro-se (filed by the defendant without a lawyer) motion."

Legally sufficient or not, Cobb said Hutchinson will argue the motion himself on Dec. 15.

"I'm not going to be making the argument on that at all," Cobb said, adding he had not seen the motion as of Thursday afternoon.

Cobb said Barron called him from his office Thursday morning while Elmore was present to advise him of the motion, but had no more information regarding it.

Among the grounds Hutchinson cited for removing Barron from the case was a dispute over funds for travel and medical testing by Dr. William Baumzweiger, an expert in Gulf War illness who lives in California.

The motion also claims he was not allowed to read a request to fire a lawyer in court, that Barron has suggested he opt for a six-member jury, mentions his March 14 letter to Barron seeking to fire Cobb and claims the Cobbs are not qualified to represent him.

It also refers to Barron's threat to gag him during a May 3 hearing, charges the judge with discussing his case in newspaper and television stories, claims the judge contradicted himself regarding pretrial publicity about the case, mentions additional palm prints ordered by the judge in July and complains that he was not allowed to use material from a Florida Bar complaint he filed against Cobb to bolster his efforts to fire his lawyer.