Accused Murderer Due in Court Wednesday

After more than two years of legal back-and-forth, the Hopatcong man charged with murdering a borough woman will most likely endure his last hearing before the case goes to trial.

Giuseppe Tedesco will at the Sussex County Courthouse for a 9 a.m. status conference Wednesday before Judge Peter Conforti. Tedesco shot 22-year-old Alyssa Ruggieri to death at her Hopatcong home March 27, 2010, when she refused to celebrate his birthday with him, Assistant Prosecutor Seana Pappas said.

The latest development in the slow-moving case came May 30 when Pappas replaced jailhouse informant Bradford Mayne with another inmate, Daniel Keyslack, , Pappas said. Mayne died while in prison.

That's when Tedesco's attorney, Anthony Iacullo, asked the judge to push back the trial so he could procure more evidence of Tedesco's innocence. Despite objections from Pappas, who said Iacullo was "stalling," Conforti moved the trial to Sept. 11—exactly a week after what would have been Ruggieri's 25th birthday.

Tedesco, who also faces weapons charges, has repeatedly . If convicted, Tedesco, whom Iacullo said could claim self-defense during trial, faces a possible life sentence.