Tennessee: Trial set for man charged in 5 slayings

photo FILE - This image provided by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows a booking photo of Jacob Shaffer of Fayetteville, Tenn. Shaffer, accused in a two-state rampage that left six dead, was targeting his estranged wife and killed the others first so they couldn't stop the attack on her, Tennessee authorities said Tuesday, July 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, File)

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. - A judge in Fayetteville has set Sept. 19 as the new trial date for a man charged in the stabbing deaths of his estranged wife and four other people in southern Tennessee.

Jacob Shaffer is charged in the five deaths in July 2009 in Lincoln County.

WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Ala., reports that Judge Robert Crigler at a Tuesday hearing set the Sept. 19 death penalty trial, with jury selection to start the week before.

Crigler previously ruled that the jury will be picked in another county.

The judge gave attorneys a March 22 deadline to agree to a jury pool.

The trial originally set for late January has been delayed by appeals.

Shaffer is also charged in the death of an Alabama man in Huntsville before the Tennessee slayings.

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