PARIS – A hearing scheduled for Thursday will determine whether Christian C. Nielsen is fit to stand trial on charges that he murdered four people in Upton and Newry last fall.

The 32-year-old patient at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta will be present in Oxford County Superior Court for the hearing at 8:30 a.m.

Nielsen is accused of shooting the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast in Newry, her daughter, her daughter’s friend and a guest staying at the inn over Labor Day Weekend last year. Nielsen, who was staying at the inn while working as a cook in Bethel, was arrested at the crime scene shortly after the last two women were shot to death.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said the hearing will determine whether Nielsen is capable of understanding the nature of the charges; whether he is capable of understanding his own condition in reference to the charges; and whether he is capable of cooperating with his counsel to conduct a defense in a rational and reasonable manner.

Nielsen has already undergone examinations to determine competency, whether he was criminally responsible for his actions, or if he has an abnormal state of mind.

“It will not stop the trial, assuming that the judge finds that he is in fact competent,” Benson said.

Nielsen’s trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 9 before Justice Robert E. Crowley, who has been assigned to all matters related to the case.

Benson said if Crowley finds Nielsen to be incompetent to stand trial, Nielsen will be returned to the psychiatric center where officials will “attempt to restore him to competence.” “I’m confident that the state can prove that the defendant has the skills associated with competence,” Benson said.

Neither Ron Hoffman nor Margot Joly, Nielsen’s attorneys, were available for comment on Friday.

In a motion filed in Superior Court on Thursday, Benson requests that the defense attorneys provide him with a report from forensic psychologist Dr. Charles Robinson within 36 hours of the start of the hearing. Crowley, who was the presiding judge for matters in Superior Court on Thursday, approved the request the same day.

Robinson has been retained by the defense to examine Nielsen. Benson said the results of state forensic examinations, while not available to the public, are filed with the court, while results of the defense examinations are not.

In October of last year, Crowley ordered that the results of state examinations on Nielsen be sealed from both parties unless the defense introduced an expert witness or entered an insanity plea. The defense added a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in May, and the results of the state examinations were released to the parties.

At a hearing in early July, Dr. Ann LeBlanc, head of the State Forensic Services, testified that Nielsen suffers from schizophrenia and a personality disorder that makes him anti-social. However, she also testified that he did not suffer from psychosis at the time of the killings and had the ability to make decisions.

He is accused of shooting James Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Ark., on Sept. 1, 2006, on a remote road in Upton; inn owner Julie Bullard, 65, in her bed at 829 Sunday River Road on Sept. 3; and Selby Bullard, 30, of Bethel, and Cindy Beatson, 43, of Bethel on Sept. 4. The women’s bodies were dismembered.

In an interview with Christian Nielsen, state police Detective Jennifer King said he told her that he decided on Aug. 31, 2006, to shoot Whitehurst the next day, and then on Sept. 2 he decided to shoot Julie Bullard the following day because she would wonder about Whitehurst’s disappearance.

When Selby Bullard and Cindy Beatson arrived at the inn hours after he’d shot Julie, he said he knew Selby would be looking for her, and he knew he had to kill both of them, King wrote.

Nielsen’s father and stepmother, Charles Nielsen and Lee Graham of Woodstock, went to check on Christian in the late afternoon of Sept. 4, eight hours after he’d borrowed their chain saw and told them he was going to be taking over the inn from Julie, King stated. The couple found the bodies and called police.