Kansas City, Mo. ? Defense attorneys are seeking to delay the trial of a Kansas woman who is accused of cutting a Missouri woman’s baby from her womb and claiming the infant as her own.

Lisa Montgomery, 37, of Melvern, Kan., faces trial in April on a charge of kidnapping resulting in death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Montgomery.

She is accused of strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett with a rope on Dec. 16, 2004, at her Skidmore home, using a kitchen knife for a crude Caesarean section, then parading the infant around as her own.

The baby, Victoria Jo Stinnett, is healthy and in the care of her father, Zeb Stinnett.

Saying they need more time to prepare, Montgomery’s defense attorneys filed a motion Tuesday seeking to move the trial to February 2007.

“The necessary investigation, motion practice, discovery and defense scientific testing simply cannot be accomplished without additional time,” attorney Susan Hunt wrote.

In the motion, defense lawyers said they needed to conduct their own DNA testing and computer forensics work. It also noted the defense team has changed over the last year.

Though much evidence has been turned over, Hunt said more remained to be disclosed.

She also wrote that prosecutors did not file their formal notice to seek the death penalty until November.

Hunt also suggested it has taken time for defense lawyers to develop a relationship with Montgomery.

“Sensitive facts need to be disclosed to members of the defense team who are essentially strangers to the defendant,” Hunt wrote. “This takes months. Then evaluation by relevant experts must follow. It is an incrementally slow process.”