LEWISTON – Brandon Thongsavanh may have to wait another week before returning to Maine.

The 21-year-old accused killer was scheduled to take a flight from Arizona to Maine Wednesday, but the federal authorities in charge of transporting him here had to cancel the trip for scheduling reasons.

Local jail officials have been told that he will not be coming until sometime next week.

Thongsavanh has been serving a 58-year sentence in an Arizona state prison for the March 2002 murder of Bates College senior Morgan McDuffee.

He is returning to Maine as the result of an October ruling by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to overturn his conviction and grant him a new trial.

Thongsavanh was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Arizona in May 2004 as part of a deal in which Maine agreed to exchange one of its high-risk prisoners for an Arizona inmate involved in a 15-day hostage standoff there.

Recent court documents show that Thongsavanh earned his high-risk status at the Maine State Prison after being involved in an attack in which another inmate’s throat was slit.

The high court justices’ decision to overturn his conviction was based on their belief that a profane reference to Jesus on Thongsavanh’s shirt was so offensive that jurors might not have been able to be impartial after hearing about it.

Thongsavanh’s second trial is tentatively scheduled for April.

Under normal circumstances, Thongsavanh would be held at the Androscoggin County Jail after his return. But, due to his violent prison record, local jail and law enforcement officials have petitioned the court to have him kept at the prison instead.

Thongsavanh’s lawyer, William Maselli, doesn’t know whether he will contest the jail’s request. The Auburn defense attorney said he is waiting until Thongsavanh is in Maine so he can talk to him about what he wants to do.

The U.S. Marshals Service will likely take Thongsavanh to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, the federal depository for prisoners entering the state. Then it will be up to the court to decide whether he will go to prison or the Auburn jail.