Accused Susie Zhao Killer Will get Listening to Trial Pushed Back to September

The person accused of killing professional poker participant Susie Zhao experienced a pretrial listening to previous 7 days and acquired a new demo day.

Jeffery Bernard Morris, 61, faces two counts of felony murder in Michigan’s Oakland County Circuit Courtroom for the alleged killing of Zhao, whose terribly burned and mutilated system was uncovered in a state recreation location in July 2020.

As PokerNews noted last month, Morris’ demo was initially slated to get started in 2021 but underwent a series of delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, alterations in counsel and a clerical error as the circumstance was sure about to the Circuit Courtroom.

Morris, carrying an orange jumpsuit and with a cloth mask pulled above his chin, appeared at a pretrial hearing by using Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 17, through which Oakland County Circuit Decide Martha Anderson scheduled a new demo date for Sept. 26. In advance of the new day was set, the trial had been scheduled to get started on June 16, in accordance to court files.

The Oakland Press reported that the later date had been asked for by protection attorney Michael McCarthy, who replaced Pamela Johnson as Morris’ counsel in December 2021.

“My predecessor experienced the case for effectively about a 12 months,” explained McCarthy, who in his ask for for a afterwards day also famous that Morris experienced elevated “investigative troubles … that apparently weren’t elevated in advance of.”

Zhao, who grew up in Michigan following immigrating from China as a young boy or girl, was a typical in the Los Angeles poker scene and produced appearances on the Bicycle Casino’s “Live at the Bike” income sport stream. The 33-calendar year-aged accrued $222,671 in live match earnings, such as a 90th-area finish in the 2015 Environment Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Most important Celebration for $73,805.

Oakland prosecutors allege that Morris, a convicted sexual intercourse offender with a violent felony heritage, fulfilled Zhao at Sherwood Motel in Michigan in July 2020, exactly where she was sexually assaulted, sure and lit on fireplace in advance of she died. Zhao had recently moved again to Michigan just after living in LA.

Morris was charged with to start with-degree premeditated murder in September 2020, when a second murder cost was later on included as facts emerged in the circumstance. He continues to be in custody in Oakland County Jail.

PokerNews will keep on to monitor the Zhao murder trial as the circumstance moves forward.