PORT ANGELES — The trial for Nathan Hipsher, accused of fatally beating his girlfriend two months ago, is being delayed because he has cancer.

Hipsher’s attorney on Friday told a Clallam County Superior Court judge that the 25-year-old man needs to begin treatment “in the very near future.”

“Mr. Hipsher is going to need to begin chemotherapy very soon,” followed by stem cell transplants, said Terry Mulligan of Clallam-Jefferson Public Defenders.

Mulligan said Hipsher, who is still in custody, recently was evaluated at a cancer center in Seattle, and Hipsher’s oncologist has received an oral report on his condition.

Hipsher, appearing at the Friday hearing in an orange Clallam County jail jumpsuit, agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial through the end of May. A review hearing is set for March 11.

Second-degree murder

Hipsher is charged with second-degree murder for the slaying of Amber Rae Bulus-Steed, 26, on the night of Dec. 13.

Authorities say Bulus-Steed was severely beaten inside a room at the Greathouse Motel in Sequim, where she had checked in that afternoon with Hipsher and her two young daughters, ages 1 and 3.