Attorneys for convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad asked a judge Friday for separate trials for the six murders he is charged with in Maryland.

Muhammad’s public defenders argued in court documents that a single trial would prejudice a jury with “irrelevant and inadmissible evidence” from the separate crimes.

Currently, Muhammad faces a May 1 trial on all six murders.

Muhammad’s attorneys requested a hearing on the matter in court papers filed in Rockville on the day of a deadline for pretrial motions.

Prosecutors sought to expand on evidence outside of the six murders. Other crimes, they said, should be considered because evidence from them demonstrate Muhammad’s motive, intent and preparation to commit the crimes.

Muhammad was sentenced to death after being convicted in a sniper shooting in Manassas, Va. Lee Boyd Malvo, who also is a defendant in the case, was sentenced to life in prison for a shooting in Falls Church, Va.

Malvo’s Maryland trial on six murder counts is set for October.

The two are accused of killing 10 people and wounding three in 2002 in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.