PITTSBURGH -- Denied by the nation's highest court, Dr. Cyril Wecht's defense attorneys are now seeking a federal judge's approval to block their client from going to trial for a second time.

Wecht's defense team filed a motion on Wednesday asking U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin to dismiss the charges against the former Allegheny County coroner, who's accused of using government workers and equipment to benefit his private practice.

In part, the motion says, "Dr. Wecht is a 77 year old man who has already stood trial once after enduring an extensive and expensive pretrial proceeding. During that pretrial proceeding, he had to prepare to defend himself against 84 charges that the Government originally made and then defend himself on the 41 counts taken to trial after the Government simplified the blunderbuss indictment. The evidence the Government used in its unsuccessful attempt to secure a conviction was the evidence it obtained by the illegal searches at issue. Not only was Dr. Wecht wrongly denied relief for the Fourth Amendment violations, but virtually all of that illegally seized evidence was pre-admitted by Judge [Arthur] Schwab before trial even started under orders which eliminated the need for [FBI Agent Brad] Orsini to take the stand and authenticate that evidence and which prohibited the defense from even objecting at trial."

McLaughlin has not ruled on the request yet. (Click here to read the entire motion.)

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States declined an appeal to stop Wecht's new trial from taking place. The justices did not comment on their order.

Jurors in Wecht's first federal trial in Pittsburgh deadlocked in April after deliberating more than 50 hours. U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab then declared a mistrial.

Earlier this year, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that prosecutors could try the 77-year-old Wecht again.

Prosecutors are dropping all but 14 of the original 41 counts against Wecht, of Squirrel Hill. They're also asking to hold the new trial in Erie instead of Pittsburgh, where the case has received heavy media coverage.

Schwab has been removed from the case and replaced by McLaughlin.

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