FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — The judge presiding over the second prosecution of convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad has removed himself from the case after prosecutors claimed he improperly conducted his own investigation into whether Muhammad had been denied a speedy trial.

Circuit Court Judge Jonathan C. Thacher, in a letter to prosecutors and defense attorneys made public Tuesday, said he is removing himself from the case even though he believes he did nothing wrong.

"My concerns and obligations are and always have been the orderly administration of justice" and following the law, Thacher wrote. But Thacher said he needed to step aside because "the focus has been diverted away from the legal issues in this case, and needs to be redirected to the prosecution of Mr. Muhammad."

Muhammad was already convicted and sentenced to death last year for the Oct. 9, 2002, murder of Dean Harold Meyers in neighboring Prince William County. But Fairfax County prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. has said he wants a second conviction in case the first is overturned on appeal.

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It was unclear whether Thacher's decision would further delay Muhammad's trial, which had originally been scheduled for October but was pushed back to January after Muhammad agreed to a limited waiver of his speedy trial rights.

Prosecutors filed a motion two weeks ago asking Thacher to recuse himself, saying he compromised his impartiality with a Sept. 7 visit to the jail where Muhammad was once held to investigate whether he was denied his right to a speedy trial. Prosecutors said Thacher improperly discussed the issue with jail personnel who could be called to testify.

Prosecutors alleged Thacher went so far as to accuse jail personnel or others of altering Muhammad's file and suggesting an internal affairs investigation.

Horan said Tuesday that the request for recusal was not an effort to remove a judge who may have been sympathetic to the defense.

"We filed the motion because of what we felt was a violation of the judicial canons of ethics," which prohibit a judge from making decisions based on personal knowledge of a case, Horan said.

But defense lawyers said prosecutors exaggerated the significance of Thacher's conversations with jail workers, and that Thacher visited the jail because prosecutors failed to provide documents he requested from them.

The defense lawyers, Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro, declined to comment on the case, except to say that "it is important to state affirmatively our utmost respect for Judge Thacher, his integrity and the work he put into assuring a fair trial for John Muhammad and the commonwealth."

The speedy trial claim is based on a Virginia law that grants Muhammad the right to trial within five months of his arrest.

If a judge agrees that Muhammad has been denied a speedy trial, Fairfax County will be permanently barred from putting Muhammad on trial for the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, one of 10 killings in the Washington area over a three-week span in October 2002.

Muhammad's teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was convicted last year in the Franklin killing and sentenced to life in prison.