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Trial dates set for Colorado man charged with killing Mesa County Deputy Derek Geer

Posted at 1:10 PM, May 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-10 18:01:38-04

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man accused of killing Mesa County Sheriff's Deputy Derek Geer in 2016 will face two trials on multiple charges.

The Daily Sentinel reported Tuesday that 19-year-old Austin Holzer will start a three-week trial January 8 as an adult for his first-degree murder charge. He will then face a three-day trial for unrelated charges.

The second trial will be on charges of failing to register as a sex offender, one count of defacing a firearm and three counts of theft of firearms.

The trials are not joined because Holzer's public defenders contend that evidence of the requirement that Holzer should have registered as a sex offender at a joint trial would "improperly place his character at issue and would stigmatize him in the eyes of the jury."