NEWPORT (AP) - Attorneys for Christian Longo asked the court for a mistrial Wednesday, saying their client's jail cell was improperly searched as he awaits trial on murder charges.

The motion comes less than a week after Longo confessed to killing his wife, MaryJane, and youngest daughter, Madison.

He goes on trial March 10 on charges of murdering his other daughter, Sadie, and son, Zachery.

The bodies of Longo's wife and three children were found in coastal waters in December 2001, stuffed into suitcases and wrapped in sleeping bags.

Longo's attorneys filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to dismiss the case, according to the Lincoln County clerk's office. They also argued the current team of prosecutors should be removed.

Jailers searched Longo's cell at the Lincoln County Jail after a former inmate, Jennifer Muscutt, revealed that Longo wrote letters and a poem to her, some addressed to "Miss Cotton Candy."

Muscutt, who had been in jail on felony drug charges, was among several female inmates with whom Longo corresponded, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed last week.

Jail rules prohibit correspondence between inmates.

Longo's lead court-appointed attorney, Ken Hadley, said the defense team had asked Longo to write some notes to aid in the defense, and that these sensitive materials wound up with prosecutors after the search.

A judge will rule on the motion later.

Hadley has already filed more than 20 motions asking that the case be thrown out or evidence suppressed on a variety of grounds. Lincoln County Circuit Judge Robert Huckleberry has denied or shelved all substantial defense motions.

Jury selection began Tuesday for the trial.

Longo faces the death penalty.