A continuance may postpone the long-awaited Feb. 23 trial set for the man accused of killing Sabine Musil-Buehler.
William J. Cumber, now 45, is charged with the second-degree murder of Musil-Buehler, who disappeared Nov. 4, 2008, and is presumed dead.
Assistant Public Defender Traci Dishman, standing in for Cumber’s attorney, Franklin Roberts, at a Jan. 9 hearing, told newly assigned 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Diana L. Moreland that Roberts will be filing for a continuance in either Cumber’s case or another case he’s been assigned, also set for the February trial period.
Moreland had ordered the parties’ attorneys to appear with their calendars at the case management conference to discuss discovery issues, pretrial motions, conflicts, competency issues and the trial date.
Assistant State Attorney Art Brown advised Moreland that the defense has not deposed many of the state’s witnesses.
Brown said there have been no attempts to set depositions and now we have a trial date, adding he doesn’t know how Roberts plans to handle that matter.
Dishman did not comment on Roberts’ plans.
After the hearing, Brown said there had been no discussions about Cumber pleading to any lesser charge.
The trial had previously been set for April, and postponed to October 2014.
It was moved to February after Cumber waived his right to a speedy trial due to pending DNA results, difficulty locating witnesses and Franklin having to represent a client in another murder trial.
Cumber remains in Manatee County jail without bond, where he is also serving time on a violation of probation for an unrelated arson conviction.
Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube announced the charges against Cumber in October 2012, while Cumber was jailed for violating his probation on the prior conviction.
Musil-Buehler was reported missing in 2008 by her estranged husband, Tom Buehler, with whom she owned and operated Haley’s Motel in Holmes Beach, after MCSO investigators told Buehler her car had been found.
Cumber had worked at Haley’s Motel doing maintenance jobs, and lived with Musil-Buehler on Magnolia Avenue in Anna Maria for several months before her disappearance in 2008.
MCSO Detective John Kenney, of the Manatee County Homicide Investigative Unit, said investigators believe Cumber used Musil-Buehler’s car to dispose of her body somewhere on Anna Maria Island shortly after she went missing.
Investigators with cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar have searched several island locations since her disappearance in 2008.
Some of Musil-Buehler’s personal items were found near the beach fronting Willow Avenue in Anna Maria in 2011, but investigators came up empty there and again after their most recent search at the end of South Bay Boulevard.
The crime lab found no DNA on underwear unearthed in September 2014, according to Kenney.
Cumber did not attend the case management hearing.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
His next court date is set for docket sounding at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.