Ask Joe: Is the Judy Black trial moving forward in Virginia City?

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (News 4) — From the Ask Joe file, I'm looking into a question about a murder case we've following for several years now.

Don up in Virginia City wrote in asking if the Judy Black trial is still set to get underway in March.

Here's what I found out:

Just to give you a little background, Judy Black was found dead in her home in the Virginia City Highlands in April 2014 in a case the Storey County sheriff insisted was an accident for a full year after it happened.

The sheriff eventually declared it a homicide, and Black's husband Bret was arrested and charged with beating her to death.

Autopsy reports showed Judy Black suffered dozens of injuries and died from "multiple blunt force trauma."

The trial was scheduled to get underway in March, but it has been postponed until October. I asked Storey County District Attorney Anne Langer why it's being delayed seven months at this point.

The only thing she would say is the prosecution and defense are still analyzing and testing evidence. It is part of what is known as the discovery process in legal terms.

You might think they would be further along at this point, but they are not.

So if the trial does happen in October that will be about 4-and-a-half years after Judy Black's death. It is a slow process, but it is moving forward. The defendant, Bret Black, is out on bail and living with family in the Bay Area.