A Gum Spring man charged with six felonies, including rape, saw his court-appointed lawyer removed from his case this week in Goochland County Circuit Court.

Irvin Leroy “Chubby” Martin, 46, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning on six felony counts including breaking and entering with intent to commit rape, rape, and forcible sodomy.

Originally, he was being defended by Paul Gregorio but the lawyer filed a motion to be taken off his case.

Martin has been trying to get Carlotta B. Thompson to be named as his defense attorney but she isn’t on the county’s court-appointed list.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s gotten to this point,” Thompson said moments after Judge Timoth K. Sanner granted Gregorio’s motion.

At his next scheduled appearance, which is slated for Feb. 5 at 9:30 a.m., Martin will be arraigned and the issues over his representation should cease.

Sanner instructed Martin this week that next month he’ll either have to accept the court-appointed attorney assigned to his case, find means to retain legal counsel, or defend himself.

If ultimately convicted, Martin could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

After having been a wanted man for eight months after allegedly beating a neighbor in February 2007, Martin was finally caught by authorities in Van Buren, Ark. in October.

He was extradited to Virginia a week later and recently was indicted on a laundry list of charges, including rape, aggravated malicious wounding, and forcible sodomy, all of which carry life sentences if convicted.

The break in the search for Martin came within 24 hours of a profile of his case ran on the long-running Fox crime series “America’s Most Wanted.”

Within days of his profile airing, tipsters had police focused on Oklahoma and Arkansas, where Martin allegedly had picked up odd jobs and was going under numerous aliases.

Authorities in Van Buren had been on the lookout for Martin when they pulled into a gas station and noticed a suspicious person in a red Jeep ducking down.

Lt. Brent Grill with the Van Buren Police Department said Martin was trying to secure passage to Texas but was thwarted when a caller whom he was trying to get a ride from turned him in.