Reginald Killingsworth is accused of killing a store owner in a 2006 robbery attempt.

Four weeks before Reginald Killingsworth's capital murder trial is scheduled to begin, the Capital Defender Office of Western Virginia has withdrawn from his case.

Lead capital defender Steven Milani told a Roanoke Circuit Court judge Friday that his team's relationship with Killingsworth "has deteriorated to a level that it can't be repaired."

After dismissing the capital defender team from the case, Judge Jonathan Apgar told Killingsworth, "If you keep firing people you might end up representing yourself."

Killingsworth immediately retorted, "I'm not firing anybody. They fired themselves."

Milani declined to comment after he left the hearing. At a previous hearing in February, Killingsworth complained he did not want the capital defenders, but Apgar denied his request.

The state-funded Capital Defenders Office was created in 2002 to ensure quality defense for people facing the death penalty who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys.

It was unclear Friday whether this development would further delay the 39-year-old Florida man's trial in the November 2006 slaying of Zaid Almajali, the owner of Z-Mart on Melrose Avenue Northwest.

Almajali was fatally shot Nov. 9, 2006, during a botched robbery.

Killingsworth was arrested that night after a car chase that ended in a crash.

His co-defendant, Mendy Phelps, who drove the getaway car that crashed, was sentenced in October to spend three years in prison.

Counting the four members of the capital defenders unit, Killingsworth has parted company with five attorneys because of cooperation issues since his case began. A sixth attorney withdrew because of conflict of interest issues.

Salem lawyer Mark Claytor defended Killingsworth at his preliminary hearing on a murder charge and remained on his team after a Roanoke grand jury handed down a capital murder indictment.

Friday, Killingsworth said he wished to keep Claytor on board. "I really don't have a problem with him at all."

Apgar appointed Roanoke lawyer Neil Horn to replace the capital defenders. Killingsworth's two-week trial is scheduled to start June 16.

Claytor said he does not want to delay the trial. "It will make getting all of our evidence in fact and in mitigation together difficult but not impossible," he said. "Right now I think I can put it all together in time."

Maintaining Killingsworth's defense team hasn't been the only hurdle in bringing him to trial.

In June 2007, a psychiatrist found him incompetent to stand trial, and he was committed to a state mental institution for treatment.

Prosecutors suggested then that Killingsworth could have been faking symptoms of mental illness.

Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell has described Killingsworth as a "chronic complainer."

He is scheduled to be tried May 28 on robbery and firearms charges in an incident that happened in Roanoke two days before Almajali was killed.