KNOXVILLE, Tenn (WVLT) -- It's been more than a year since a young couple was brutally murdered in a carjacking in East Knoxville.

Now it may be another year before the first of the four accused killers goes on trial.

Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman are each charged with murder.

Prosecutors say they killed Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in January 2007.

Volunteer TV's court report Rob Pratt has more.

Prosecutors want Cobbins to stand trial first, and they want the death penalty.

His lawyer says four more months is not enough time to get ready, and the judge seems ready to agree.

Accused killer Letalvis Cobbins will be on trial for his life.

The question now is when?

Not on May 12 if Cobbin's lawyer Kim Parton gets her way.

"Frankly, I've been involved in a number of death penalty cases, and I can state to the court that it is impossible in this case with various witnesses out of county and out of state, and so forth, to be ready."

Parton says she has another death penalty case in another county in September.

With some of the evidence that the state is required to share in Cobbin's case continuing to trickle in, Parton says the trial should not begin until January 2009.

Leland Price, Asst. District Attorney General says, "I'm sympathetic to defense counsel's position, and all the work that needs to go into preparing a death penalty case, but we'd like to get it done in May if at all possible."

Judge Richard Baumgartner won't rule on the motion to delay the trial until a hearing February 14, but he's already giving strong hints as to how he'll rule.

He says the May trial date is not realistic.

Prosecutors get to choose the order of the trials, and they still want Cobbins first.

That means the three other cases may be delayed too.

The judge first said prosecutors would have to announce by February 14th if they will seek the death penalty or life without parole against the other three defendants.

But their lawyers don't want to rush prosecutors into making that decision, and they convinced the judge to back off on that deadline.

Cobbins' lawyer also says she'll ask that the trial be moved to another county due to extensive publicity.

Judge Baumgartner says he'll consider that motion, but he would bring jurors from another county to Knoxville rather than taking the trial on the road.