AUBURN – New appointments of his attorney and a judge have bumped the murder trial of a Sabattus man into next year, a court clerk said.

Scott Poirier, 35, is charged with killing his father, Roland Poirier, during the Lewiston man’s 65th birthday party last year.

The younger Poirier is being held without bail at Androscoggin County Jail.

Poirier was scheduled to go to trial last month on a murder charge, but that trial was put on hold when his attorney, M. Michaela Murphy, was appointed to a Maine Superior Court judgeship. At the same time, the judge presiding over Poirier’s case, Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Ellen Gorman, was appointed by Gov. John Baldacci to fill a vacancy on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Since then, Poirier has hired a new attorney, Steven Peterson of West Rockport. He couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The new judge assigned to the case, Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler, had sat on the bench in Rockland, but has moved over to Androscoggin County Courthouse to assume Gorman’s former duties, including civil trials. Wheeler wielded the gavel during the closely watched murder trial of former Hells Angels leader Daniel Roberts in Androscoggin County Superior Court earlier this year.

Poirier was expected to assert an affirmative psychiatric defense, seeking to prove he wasn’t criminally responsible for his father’s death. He was ordered by Justice Gorman to undergo psychological evaluations in December 2006 at the request of prosecutors. Around the same time, Murphy had her client examined by a psychologist. The results of the state’s evaluations have remained sealed.

No new motions have been filed since the postponement of the trial, a clerk said.

Police said that Roland Poirier was celebrating his birthday Nov. 8, 2005 , at his Lewiston home’s dining room with family and friends when he was shot in back of the neck by Scott Poirier, who fired a .270-caliber rifle through a sliding glass door while he was outside in the yard during heavy rain.

Roland “Jerry” Poirier’s son reportedly told police he shot his father because he and others had been sexually abused by the man for years when the son was younger.

Scott Poirier, who has four young sons, told police he didn’t want his father to abuse his grandchildren.