Michael David Morrow’s first-degree murder trial in the shooting death of his estranged wife, Amanda Smith Morrow, has been set for March 11, 2013.

During a hearing in Superior Administrative Court Thursday, Judge Bradley Letts denied a request from defense attorney J. Michael Edney to continue the case.

Edney was appointed as Morrow’s attorney in February after his first appointed lawyer, Tony Dalton, withdrew representation.

During a pre-trial hearing Sept. 21, Edney agreed to the March trial date.

However, during the hearing Thursday, Edney said an expert testimony in the case needed more time to familiarize himself with the discovery in the case.

He said he felt that without a continuance, Morrow would be denied a fair trial.

The now 42-year-old is accused of shooting his 39-year-old wife to death at her home on Pot Leg Road during the early morning hours of Oct. 16, 2010.

Court documents indicate she was strangled before being shot in the right temple, but she crawled to a neighbor’s porch for help, where her body was found later that morning.

Authorities arrested Morrow at his home lying on his bed with a cocked .32 caliber revolver at his side.

He was arraigned on an undesignated murder charge in Haywood County Superior Court two days later and indicted in December for murder in the first-degree.

Despite a request for a lower bond in July, Morrow has been in custody under $2 million bond since his arrest.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Morrow because the case does not meet statutory requirements for a capital case.