Murder defendant Bradley Joe Morales is having lawyer problems again.

His latest defense attorneys, Ashley Gulke and James Wiese, both filed motions to withdraw as his attorneys. North Central District Court Judge Doug Mattson approved their requests on Thursday but warned Morales that he is not entitled to select his own public defender and Mattson will be less inclined to approve the request if the issue comes up again. Mattson also told Morales that it will take time for a new public defender to get up to speed on his case and his retrial for the August 2017 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend will be inevitably delayed.

Morales apparently “has a different theory of the case” than former defense attorney Gulke, based on statements made at the court hearing on Thursday and wants to direct how his attorneys represent him. He wanted his defense attorneys to file motions with the court that they deemed frivolous.

Mattson told Morales that Gulke and Wiese appear to have been doing their jobs and have been working diligently on his defense. If he wants a lawyer to follow all of his directions, Mattson said Morales should “hire your own attorney.”

Morales has a long history of being unhappy with his court-appointed attorneys. Morales’s second defense attorney during his first murder case told Mattson when he asked to withdraw in October 2017 that “there are some clients and some attorneys that mix as well as oil and water” and Morales would do better with another attorney.

Morales was convicted at his first murder trial and Mattson sentenced him to 40 years in prison. However, the Supreme Court ordered that Morales must be given a new trial because Mattson violated Morales’s constitutional right to a public trial by closing the courtroom on different occasions without first considering alternatives.

No date has been set for the retrial for Morales, who is being held at the Ward County Jail on $750,000 cash or corporate surety bond.