SAN DIEGO -- The federal judge overseeing the case of alleged drug kingpin Javier Arellano-Felix denied a defense motion Tuesday to take himself off the case.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns told defense attorney David Bartick that he had no personal involvement with the investigation into the Arellano-Felix Organization when he was with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the 37-year-old defendant.

Javier Arellano-Felix, who is being held without bail, was captured last month by U.S. federal drug agents and Coast Guard personnel while deep-sea fishing in international waters off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California.

Seven other men, included two suspected assassins, were also taken into custody and charged in San Diego federal court as material witnesses.

Charges were subsequently dismissed against one of the seven, Luis Raul Jiminez-Toledo.

At Tuesday's hearing, Burns granted Bartick's motion to add an attorney to assist him with the extraordinarily complex case. Prosecutors said earlier it might become a death penalty case.

The judge told Bartick he could come back to the court and ask for additional attorney resources if he thought they were needed.

Burns also refused to intercede on security measures implemented at the federal jail to house Arellano-Felix and the material witnesses.

A motions hearing for Javier Arellano-Felix is scheduled for Oct. 2.

Arellano-Felix, known as "El Tigrillo" or "little tiger," and 11 other alleged high-ranking members of the Mexican cartel were indicted in federal court in San Diego in July 2003 on charges of importing and distributing drugs into the United States.

Javier Arellano-Felix and his brothers, Benjamin and Eduardo, were charged in December 2003 with conducting an illegal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, conspiring to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana, and money laundering.

A fourth brother, Ramon Arellano-Felix, considered the cartel's enforcer, was killed in a shootout with police in 2002. Benjamin Arellano-Felix was arrested a few weeks later.

Eduardo Arellano-Felix is still at large, authorities said.

Authorities say Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix took over the Tijuana cartel in 2002. The Arellano-Felix family has controlled the Mexican drug trade since the late 1980s, authorities said.

The indictment also alleges that the Arellano-Felix Organization negotiated with Colombian cocaine traffickers to buy tons of cocaine, and then arranged to have it smuggled into the United States.

The Arellano-Felix Organization recruited bodyguards and assassins who killed rival drug traffickers, informants and Mexican law enforcement and military personnel, as well as members of the news media, the government alleges.

The indictment accuses the Arellano-Felix organization of carrying out 20 murders in the United States and Mexico.