SYRACUSE, N.Y. (January 16, 2013)--Former Playboy Playmate Colleen Shannon, 34, wants a new lawyer to defend her against charges that she tried to smuggle her Canadian boyfriend across the border into New York last summer.

A federal judge in Syracuse granted Shannon's request Tuesday to drop her lawyer and hire a new one.

The Los Angeles resident's trial on illegal immigrant smuggling charges was scheduled to start this week.

A new date hasn't been set.

Shannon and her boyfriend, Robert Skojo, were arrested in August in Fort Covington, N.Y., after federal agents said he entered the U.S. illegally.

Skojo has a criminal record in Canada, officials said.

Shannon, who was the centerfold for Playboy's 50th anniversary edition in 2004, now works as a disc jockey.