A Jan. 17 trial date has been set for a 32-year-old man charged with killing his former girlfriend, even though questions about his competency have not yet been resolved.

Judge Robert Swisher said he wanted to get all future hearings for Gregorio Luna Luna on the administration's official calendar because it is hard to get dates given the court's caseload.

This way, if Luna Luna is found competent after a hearing in late November, the court will follow the track of its scheduled hearings. And if Swisher rules that the defendant needs to spend some time in Eastern State Hospital, then those dates will be changed.

Psychiatrists from the Medical Lake facility already have found that Luna Luna was legally sane at the time of the May 2010 crime.

However, lawyers Shelley Ajax and Karla Kane have concerns about their client's mental health and want an independent evaluation. The only qualified expert they could find in the state who can take on the case is out of the country and not available until October.

The case is on hold until the competency issue is decided.

Luna Luna is charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors allege he killed Griselda Ocampo Meza, 21, by stabbing her in the chest at her Pasco apartment. The couple had been in a longtime relationship until Ocampo Meza ended it just months prior, and she was the mother of his then-5-year-old son.