PORT ANGELES — A new trial date is expected to be set in a Joyce murder case June 26.
Ari Lee King, 42, is charged with second-degree murder in the September beating death of Diane Cunningham.
Defense attorney Loren Oakley told Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour that DNA testing was scheduled to begin at a State Patrol crime lab Thursday, according to the minutes of a Friday hearing.
Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin said the results of the DNA tests would likely be available in a month.
The parties agreed Friday to strike the current July 13 trial date.
DNA tests on key evidence, including a carjack that King allegedly used to kill Cunningham in her Joyce-area home, nullified earlier trial dates of Jan. 5 and May 4.
Cunningham, 65, was last seen with King on surveillance footage from 7 Cedars Casino and the Port Angeles Walmart in the early morning hours of Sept. 28.
Her body was found in the bedroom of her home Oct. 6.
An autopsy showed that Cunningham died of blunt force trauma to the head.
King was arrested in Malheur County, Ore., on Nov. 13.
He is being held in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bail.
