Salim Newton allegedly gunned down a woman in her home before fleeing to Virginia.
The trial of a man accused in a 2013 Phillipsburg slaying is scheduled for the fall.
Salim Newton's hearing -- set for Oct. 24, according to the county prosecutor -- will be Warren County's first murder trial in a year.
Newton, 29, has pleaded not guilty to six counts including murder, burglary, criminal contempt and weapons charges in connection with the September 2013 shooting death of 22-year-old Melissa Williams, the mother of his child.
Salim Newton appears in 2013 at the Warren County Courthouse in Belvidere. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) He allegedly gunned her down inside her Spruce Alley home and eluded capture for more than a month before authorities eventually tracked him to Virginia, where he was reportedly staying with relatives.
In 2014, Newton turned down a plea offer that called for 22 years in prison. Later that year, prosecutors rejected a counteroffer in which Newton would have pleaded to manslaughter and taken a five-year sentence.
A first-degree murder charge in New Jersey generally carries a potential sentence of 30 years to life imprisonment.
Newton previously served a three-year sentence on a Hunterdon County drug conviction and is now incarcerated in the Warren County jail. Court documents show he is being represented by a public defender.
Alleged killer to stand trial in 2014 slaying
Newton's trial is to begin almost exactly a year after a jury returned a mixed verdict in the Andy Torres murder trial.
Torres on Oct. 29 was acquitted of murder but convicted on a felony murder charge -- meaning the jury found he had a role in, but didn't necessarily cause, the death of a gas station attendant during in a 2012 robbery in Phillipsburg. He was sentenced in January to 40 years in prison.
Another Warren County murder trial is scheduled for January. In that case, 28-year-old Daniel Lawrence is accused of killing 30-year-old Warren Moore, of Jersey City, with a 3-inch folding knife during a confrontation Sept. 2, 2014, outside Lawrence's East Washington Avenue home.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.