The trial for the man at the center of a nearly 15-year-old murder-for-hire case in Baltimore County has been postponed until June.
Stephen Michael Cooke, 43, had been scheduled to stand trial Jan. 20 on murder charges in the April 2000 death of Heidi Bernadzikowski, who lived in Dundalk. He also faces charges of witness intimidation in the case. Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox on Wednesday granted a defense motion for a postponement.
Cooke is accused of hiring two men from Colorado to kill Bernadzikowski, his girlfriend at the time.
Defense attorney Tara LeCompte said she need more time to prepare, in part to arrange for testimony of a key defense witness who lives in Colorado.
Prosecutor Garret Glennon, chief of the circuit court division for the state's attorney's office, said the state did not object to the request for postponement.
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