CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A man accused of murdering an Augusta couple last year will stand trial for the murders in May.

Robby Alan Beasley, 30, a Maine native who most recently lived in Clearlake, Calif., appeared in Lake County Superior Court's Clearlake Division before Judge Stephen Hedstrom for arraignment Tuesday morning.

Following a preliminary hearing in January that stretched over several days, Beasley was held over for trial for the shooting deaths of Frank and Yvette Maddox – who had come to California from Maine to work in Beasley's marijuana growing operation – on Jan. 22, 2010.

He's charged with two counts of murder and special allegations of committing multiple murders in the first or second degree, committing the offenses with the intent to inflict great bodily injury on the victims, using a 9 millimeter firearm and having a previous felony conviction in Maine for criminal threatening with a firearm.

Beasley's defense attorney, Stephen Carter, said Beasley entered not guilty pleas to the charges at his Tuesday morning appearance.

Carter said the trial has been set for May 16, with the judge and department still to be determined.

Beasley will have another court appearance on April 26 followed by trial readiness conferences, Carter said.

Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman-Hubert appeared on the case Tuesday as prosecutor Art Grothe is in trial on the attempted murder case in which a Sonoma County man, Thomas Dudney, is alleged to have attacked Lakeport resident Ronald Greiner in late 2009. That trial, which began Tuesday, is expected to last a month.

During a break from trial on Tuesday Grothe said he doesn't yet have District Attorney Don Anderson's final determination on whether or not the case will be handled as a death penalty prosecution.

Also implicated in the case is 28-year-old Elijah Bae McKay, a friend of Beasley's who also is a former Maine resident.

McKay is facing all of the same charges as Beasley with the exception of the special allegation of a previous felony conviction in Maine.

During Beasley's January preliminary hearing McKay took the stand as a prosecution witness, although he said he had not been offered a deal to testify.

On the stand McKay alleged that Beasley had concocted a story to lure the Maddoxes into a drive to the Sacramento airport and instead directing them down a remote road, shooting them to death following a confrontation on the roadside.

McKay claimed that Beasley killed the couple, in part, because he believed they had stolen marijuana from him.

McKay's preliminary hearing is yet to take place, but he is set to return to court in April. Beasley's case is moving through the system more quickly because he has not waived the statutory time restrictions.

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