PORT ANGELES — Ari Lee King’s murder trial in the death of Diane Cunningham has been reset for May.
Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney said tests on the alleged murder weapon — a car jack — and other key evidence are pending at a State Patrol crime lab.
King, 41, of Sequim is charged with second-degree murder in the September beating death of Cunningham, 65.
King remains in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bail.
In a Friday court hearing, Troberg told Superior Court Judge George L. Wood that the results of the lab tests would be available in two to four months.
Defense may test
King’s attorney, Loren Oakley of nonprofit Clallam Public Defender, said the defense may need to conduct its own testing on the evidence.
Wood reset the trial to May 4 and scheduled a status conference for March 20.
Cunningham was last seen accompanied by King on surveillance footage from 7 Cedars Casino and the Port Angeles Walmart in the early morning hours of Sept. 28.
Her body was discovered in the bedroom of her Salt Creek RV Park mobile home near Joyce on Oct. 6.
King was arrested in Eastern Oregon on Nov. 13 and transported to the Clallam County jail.
Clallam County sheriff’s deputies found King living under a bridge near Juntura, Ore., not far from where Cunningham’s abandoned vehicle was found by hunters.
If convicted of second-degree intentional murder, he could face life in prison.
