A pair of defendants who pleaded not guilty in the homicide of Mercer Island resident Curtis Engeland had omnibus, pre-trial hearings slated for Sept. 12 at King County Superior Court.

Philip J. Brewer and Christina Joel Hardy remain held on $5 million bail each at the King County Correctional Facility in downtown Seattle, according to Noah Haglund, communications specialist at the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.

Brewer’s initial omnibus hearing was scheduled for Aug. 22 and the defense was granted a continuance on that date until Sept. 12, read the court minutes. His trial date was moved from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12. Hardy’s omnibus hearing and trial are slated for the same dates, according to Casey McNerthney, director of communications of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Details from the hearings were not available at press time.

Prosecuting attorney Leesa Manion charged the defendants of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree identify theft and first-degree theft charges.

Court documents state that Engeland, 74, was killed on or about Feb. 24 and his body was recovered on March 7 in the Grays Harbor County city of Cosmopolis. Through an autopsy, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Engeland’s death as a homicide from a stab wound to the neck. The examiner noted that the Islander also appeared to have suffered blunt force trauma to his face and was injected with fentanyl, according to documents.

Mercer Island Police Department initially began investigating Engeland’s disappearance as a missing person case and Washington State Patrol activated a silver alert.

As noted in a previous Reporter story, any continuances to omnibus hearings — which is a common occurrence in all types of cases — would push the trial dates further out in both cases.

McNerthney noted that judges decide to grant continuances by the defense or prosecutors in pre-trial hearings for a host of legitimate logistical reasons, including the scheduling of witness interviews, witness availability at trial, the ongoing discovery process, processing test results from the State Patrol crime lab, court and attorney availability and more.

“Each request is unique and either party may object. Notably, however, prosecutors must be mindful that if a defendant wants to continue the case so that their attorney can be better prepared, the state runs the risk of a conviction getting overturned on appeal for ineffective assistance of counsel,” he said.