CHRISTIANSBURG -- A former Virginia Tech student charged with killing a fellow student on campus last year will undergo another psychological evaluation, which may delay his February trial.

Haiyang Zhu, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 21 killing of 22-year-old Xin Yang.

An employee at Au Bon Pain in Tech's Graduate Life Center testified at a preliminary hearing in May that he saw Zhu attack and decapitate Yang with a knife as the pair had coffee together.

Zhu's case is scheduled for a four-day jury trial beginning Feb. 1 in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

That date may change, however, depending on how soon a psychological exam of Zhu can be completed.

Zhu was evaluated at Central State Hospital in Petersburg earlier this year, before his preliminary hearing, and found to be competent to stand trial. He will be evaluated again before his trial goes forward.

At a motions hearing Thursday morning, Zhu's attorney, Stephanie Cox, asked if Zhu could be taken from the Western Virginia Regional Jail in Roanoke County to the Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy at the University of Virginia for the evaluation.

Daniel Murrie, the institute's director of psychology who has been appointed to evaluate Zhu, would prefer to evaluate Zhu there partly for convenience and partly so students can learn from the experience, Cox said.

Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch objected to the request, saying Zhu is charged with "an extremely brutal first-degree murder" and taking him to an unsecured office building would create "serious security risks to the public and also to the police."

Cox said Zhu has never created a security issue in jail. Finch disagreed, saying "there have been some serious security issues" regarding Zhu, but didn't elaborate.

Circuit Court Judge Bobby Turk denied the request, saying Zhu should be evaluated at the regional jail.

He said he didn't believe the reasons for transporting Zhu to UVa outweighed the security risks.

Another hearing was scheduled for next month so the judge can be updated on where the case stands. If Zhu's evaluation has not been completed by then, his trial will likely be postponed.