Defense attorneys have notified the federal judge who presided at the trial of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht that they will ask him to recuse himself from the retrial and plan to take the matter to an appeals court if he refuses.

In a motion filed Wednesday, Jerry McDevitt and Mark Rush also asked U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab to delay a retrial while further motions are filed. They requested that he vacate orders setting pretrial activities and jury selection.