The espionage trial of Maui resident Noshir Gowadia — accused of selling secret American military technology to foreign powers — has been delayed up to five months because of questions about the defendant's mental health.

The trial was scheduled to begin May 5 in federal court but U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor yesterday ordered Gowadia sent to a federal prison facility in Springfield, Ill., to undergo testing of his mental competency to assist in his own defense.

The order came after a defense expert, Dr. Pablo Stewart, raised questions about the 68-year-old's mental state in a report filed under seal with the court.

Gillmor asked defense lawyers David Klein and Birney Bervar and the prosecutor, assistant U.S. attorney Kenneth Sorenson, to suggest a local forensic psychiatrist to examine Gowadia for the court.

But the two sides could not agree on an expert, so Gillmor decided to send Gowadia to the Illinois facility.

The attorneys suggested that the prosecution and defense hire their own experts to examine Gowadia but Gillmor rejected that approach.

"The idea of having two adversarial, dueling doctors is not appropriate in such an important case," the judge said.

Sorenson said in a hearing Wednesday that sending Gowadia to the Mainland could set back the start of the trial "four to five months."

He said government witnesses needed to testify in the trial have already seen their careers altered because of the case.

An Air Force colonel who commands a squadron of B-2 stealth bombers is scheduled to depart for Iraq in the near future and "another witness is supposed to be going to Afghanistan," Sorenson said.

Gowadia is an aerospace engineer who helped develop B-2 stealth aircraft technology while working for Northrop Grumman Corp., according to court papers.

He built a $1 million home on Maui in 2002 and was living there with his wife when FBI agents began tracking his movements with air and ground surveillance in late 2004, court records show.

He was arrested in October 2005 and is charged with 21 separate criminal offenses, including charges that he helped the People's Republic of China develop and test critical components of a "stealthy cruise missile."

Much of the evidence in the case has been classified secret and sealed from public view. Most was seized by federal agents under search warrants issued through the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Security Court.