ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Jeffery Young appears in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Thursday. Young cut off his hand in 2006, and it was reattached.

The first-degree murder trial for Jeffery Martin Young has been postponed to give his defense attorney more time to investigate his mental health history.

Young's jury trial in the Jan. 28, 2008, hit-and-run death of attorney Thomas Farrell was scheduled to begin Wednesday. Farrell was struck and killed while taking a morning jog in Southwest Roanoke County.

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge William Alexander, who is hearing the case after the Roanoke County judges removed themselves, said the trial likely will take place in mid-May or early June. The judge said he would set a specific date today.

In a motion filed last week in Roanoke County Circuit Court, defense counsel Neil Horn outlined a number of incidents he needed complete records for as well as other issues that had to be resolved before he would be ready to go to trial.

Horn has stated he plans to argue that Young was insane at the time Farrell was killed.

Although he has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of pages of medical records, Horn said, he needs further documents related to a 2006 incident near the Blue Ridge Parkway in which Young cut off his left hand using a chain saw. The hand was successfully reattached, Horn said.

Other records Horn said he needs include a Floyd County Sheriff's Office report of Young choking his mother and another incident in which he doused her bed in gasoline, as well as a crash that happened in Floyd County on his 21st birthday in which he struck a tree and was seriously injured.

Horn also asked for funding to pay for testimony from a psychologist who evaluated Young in a Jan. 30, 2008, incident at Slaughters' Supermarket in Floyd County. Authorities say Young struck a woman with a vehicle, then beat her with a stick. A trial is not yet scheduled in that case, in which Young faces malicious wounding and other charges.

According to Horn's motion, the psychologist found Young not to be sane at the time of that crime, which happened just two days after Farrell's death.

At Thursday's hearing, both prosecution and defense said they expected evidence in the Floyd County attack at Slaughters' to be presented during the murder trial.

Given the publicity the case has generated, Alexander suggested that a larger than usual jury pool should be called in for the trial. Horn agreed.

Court records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act expound on at least one of the incidents Horn is seeking more information about.

In July 2006, Young showed up at the Rocky Knob Visitor Center with "an arm missing," according to an incident report from the Floyd County Sheriff's Office.

Pete Schula, a park ranger stationed at the visitor center, helped treat Young's wound before an ambulance arrived.

"He came out from where the accident occurred and brought his amputated hand with him," Schula said during an interview in February 2008.

The report says Young cut off his left hand about 2 inches above his wrist.

When Floyd County deputy Rusty Stanley arrived at the visitor center, Schula was standing next to a white Jeep Wrangler and Young was holding his wallet, keys, and a pack of cigarettes in his remaining hand, Stanley wrote in the report.

Stanley, another officer and park ranger Greg Johnston followed the blood trail to a swampy wooded area, where they found a chain saw. The throttle was tied open with a piece of cloth, the report said.

A medical emergency temporary detention order filed in Montgomery County General District Court just days after Young's February 2008 arrest says he has a history of schizophrenia and paranoia.