A murder trial that was supposed to begin this month has been derailed because the accused has fired his lawyer for the second time.

Randy Desmond Riley is charged with first-degree murder in the death of pizza delivery man Donald Chad Smith. Smith was gunned down outside an apartment building on Joseph Young Street in Dartmouth on Oct. 23, 2010.

Donald Chad Smith was shot to death in Dartmouth on Oct. 23, 2010. (Department of Justice)

Riley's judge and jury trial was supposed to start earlier this week, but he fired his legal aid lawyer on Friday.

In court on Thursday, Crown prosecutor Melanie Perry noted this is the second time Riley has fired his counsel. Perry asked the judge to set new trial dates to try to minimize any further delay.

The judge agreed to schedule a new trial to begin on Nov. 21. Riley told the court he thought he could have a new lawyer hired and up to speed by that time.

Smith died of a single gunshot wound. He was found at a three-storey apartment building at 15 Joseph Young St. in north-end Dartmouth.

On the night the 27-year-old was shot, the call to the pizza shop on Primrose Street was placed from a pay phone on Highfield Park Drive between Joseph Young and Burnside Drive, Halifax Regional Police said at the time.

Smith was from Windsor Junction, a small suburban community in the Halifax Regional Municipality. He left behind two daughters.