HOT SPRINGS - More than two years after the crime, a Hot Springs man is scheduled to stand trial on charges he killed his ex-girlfriend.

Shannon Fast Horse is charged with alternate counts of first-degree and second-degree murder for the July 2006 beating death of Julie Doncheske.

She filed a protection order against him just eight days before she was bludgeoned in her Hot Springs yard.

Police say she had severe head injuries and investigators found a bloody tire wrench between her home and Fast Horse's place.

The delay in the case was caused by an intermediate appeal to the state Supreme Court that was ultimately dismissed.

The trial is tentatively scheduled for the week of Dec. 15.