JUNEAU -- The trial of a 50-year-old man charged with killing his girlfriend 15 years ago at a Yakutat lodge has been delayed.

The Juneau Empire reports the trial of Robert D. Kowalski has been changed from May to November at the request of Kowalski's attorney, Eric Hedland, who calls files in the cold case "massive."

Kowalski is charged with killing 39-year-old Sandra Perry on July 21, 1996, while vacationing from Washington.

He told investigators at the time they heard a bear and he got out his gun but tripped, fell on Perry and accidentally shot her in the head.

Kowalski was convicted in the 2008 murder of his girlfriend in Flathead County, Mont.

Investigators re-opened the Alaska case in January 2009.