A man charged with the murder of two hikers in North Carolina will have his trial postponed until the end of April. He faces federal criminal charges for the killings and could be sentenced to death if convicted. Charges in the case were filed last June.

The prosecution states that an elderly couple disappeared while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest on October 21, 2007. Their bodies were later discovered in different parts of the national forest. A hunter discovered the remains of the husband, who was shot in the head, off of a service road. A search party located the wife's body in an area of the national forest north of Brevard, North Carolina. An autopsy revealed that she died of head trauma.

The man's trial is being delayed because his attorneys need additional time to review an extensive number of documents. The defense lawyers must go through 44,000 pages of documents and 290 CDs and DVDs about the murders. In addition, they must examine 600,000 documents from the man's prior cases in other states, which bear semblance to the current case. He has already been convicted of the deaths of two other hikers, one in Florida and one in Georgia.

Federal cases can carry severe consequences, especially when the defendant is charged with murder. According to the man's attorneys, "capital cases are fundamentally different than any other criminal case." Defense attorneys must gather a substantial amount of evidence in such cases. It is important to have a lawyer experienced in handling federal cases.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, "Court in Asheville approves delay in serial killer's trial," Clarke Morrison, Feb. 9, 2012.