BLOOMINGTON - DNA testing on a small hair found on a pillow case at the home of a sexual assault victim has delayed the trial of a former Bloomington police officer accused of raping the woman and four others.

The April 7 trial of Jeff Pelo was delayed Wednesday until May 12 while DNA testing is completed on the newly discovered evidence.

The 43-year-old former police sergeant was stopped by a patrol officer in June 2006 outside the Bloomington home of a woman who called police about a possible intruder. Within weeks, Pelo was charged with 35 counts, accusing him of stalking and raping four women between December 2002 and 2005.

According to an affidavit presented in court Wednesday by Chief Felony Prosecutor Mark Messman, the FBI crime lab discovered a human hair on a pillow case during a review of evidence collected by police from the home of a woman allegedly assaulted in January 2005. The hair was not detected in a previous examination by the Illinois State Crime Lab, said Messman.

The FBI lab could not determine conclusively if the hair belongs to Pelo, according to the affidavit.

The pillow case and other physical evidence were sent to the federal lab in Virginia in November. Bloomington police were notified March 11 of the hair's discovery, according to the affidavit written by Bloomington Police Detective Matthew Dick.

Defense attorney Michael Rosenblat requested a trial postponement until testing is done and the defense has an opportunity to review the results. Prosecutors agreed.

"We want to have time to review the evidence and prepare a case," Rosenblatt told Associate Judge Robert Freitag.

Freitag reluctantly allowed the request to move the trial to May, noting Pelo has been in custody for almost two years. "I'm very hesitant to continue this case again," Freitag told attorneys for both sides.

Freitag's court calendar had been shifted to other judges in preparation for Pelo's trial that could last six weeks.

In other developments, the prosecution was ordered to turn over information it has on searches Pelo may have conducted of certain license plates by using the state Law Enforcement Agencies Data System. Police think the attacks were not random, but planned after surveillance of the women, according to court documents.

Also, prosecutors are expected to argue at an April 7 hearing that the defense should not be allowed to call an Ohio psychologist to testify about the reliability of eyewitness accounts.

In a motion filed Wednesday, Messman argued disclosure of Solomon Fulero as an expert witness for the defense comes too late for the state to retain its own expert on the subject. Messman also contended an eyewitness expert is required only in trials where there is little or no corroboration of a single witness.

The Pelo cases "involve multiple eyewitnesses, forensic evidence, circumstantial evidence, admissions by the defendant, other bad acts and more," Messman argued.