The murder trial of Columbia banker Robert Emmett Filippi, who is accused in the strangulation deaths of his two preschool-age daughters, has been postponed from next week to May 12.

In court papers, Filippi's defense lawyer, James B. Kraft, said he requested the date change because of departing Howard State's Attorney Marna L. McLendon's decision to seek the death penalty against his client.

A postponement will give lawyers on both sides time to address issues related to the case, Kraft wrote.

Motions in the case, originally scheduled for tomorrow, are now slated for March 10 and April 10. Filippi is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 4-year-old Nicole Filippi and her 2-year-old sister, Lindsey, who were found in an upstairs bed in their Harmel Drive home June 9 with rope around their necks.

A piece of wood, which investigators believe was used to tighten the rope, was found near their bodies, according to court documents.

Officers found Filippi, 44, sitting at the family's kitchen table with rope marks around his neck, a sign of a hanging attempt, prosecutors said at a June bail review.