This screen capture shows Evan Dixon during a previous hearing at the Houghton County Jail. The long-time Houghton County attorney will stand trial for murder in August. (Photo Courtesy of Houghton County Jail)

HOUGHTON — The murder trial of a longtime Houghton County lawyer is set for August.

Dates in the case of Evan Dixon, 60, of Hancock were set last week after a Jan. 2 scheduling conference was delayed.

Dixon pleaded not guilty to two felony charges in September in Houghton County Circuit Court.

Dixon was arrested Nov. 17, 2023 at the Douglass House Saloon in downtown Houghton, where he allegedly fatally shot Houghton resident Theron Duncan, 53.

Dixon has remain lodged in jail since.

A final pretrial is scheduled for 3 p.m. July 2. If no plea agreement is reached ahead of time, the jury trial is scheduled to begin 9 a.m. Aug. 11.

Dixon faces charges of first-degree murder-premeditated, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and felony firearms, punishable by up to two years in prison.

Marquette County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Wiese is presiding over the case. Houghton County Circuit Court Judge Brittany Bulleit, who previously served as county prosecutor and assistant prosecutor, recused herself from the case in September to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Marquette attorney Karl Numinen stepped in to handle Dixon’s defense after court-appointed attorney David Gemignani, who also had longstanding personal and professional ties with Dixon, recused himself at the district court level.