After a mistrial delaying Randy Bishop’s murder trial over three months was declared last week, Fourth Judicial District Judge Marcus Henson moved the trial back up roughly one month Tuesday afternoon after Bishop’s attorney’s schedule freed up.

At a review hearing for Bishop’s murder case, in which he’s accused in the 2019 death of Thomas Anthony Faircloth, defense attorney Josh Tolini said that due to recent developments in the murder trial against Letecia Stauch, whom he’s also defending, he would be able to try Bishop’s case in April.

Henson allowed the trial to be moved back up and set it to begin April 11, a date prosecutor Brent Nelson and Tolini agreed worked for them.

The murder case saw a mistrial declared last week over a suspension of jury trials out of concern over local COVID-19 case rates, and in part due to scheduling conflicts. That jury trial suspension lifted Monday, per an order from the judicial district’s Chief Judge William Bain.

Stauch’s trial, expected to span around six weeks, is currently in question after she changed her plea at a recent hearing to not guilty by reason of insanity, requiring a sanity evaluation to be completed at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo before her trial is set to begin March 28.

That pending evaluation, Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said at a hearing last Friday, would make that trial date difficult to keep. Stauch also indicated at that hearing she was considering waiving her jury trial, further jeopardizing next month’s start date.

Tolini said Bishop’s hearing on Tuesday was set to “see what is happening with the Letecia Stauch matter,” adding on Tuesday his schedule in April had opened since the court met last week.

Henson also allowed Bishop to withdraw his not-guilty plea in a case stemming from a January 2020 traffic stop-turned-shootout with Colorado Springs police. He added there was sufficient evidence for that case to keep trailing the murder case, the most serious against Bishop.

That move, he said, may impact Bishop’s right to a speedy trial in that case, and Nelson said the prosecution had “concerns that this is going to keep dragging out,” and that victims in that case wanted to see a resolution.

Henson said there were a “few other things we need to … address.”

“I don’t think we’re slowing things down so much as we’re speeding things up,” he added.

Faircloth, 27, was found Nov. 2, 2019, in a vacant lot at Galley Road and Powers Boulevard with “suspicious injuries.” Authorities haven’t released further details on the case, including how police tied Bishop to the crime, with the probable cause affidavit sealed.

Police rammed Bishop’s car during a November 2019 chase, and he was taken to UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central. They say he escaped from a CT scan room and stole a detective’s gun in a hallway struggle, during which two shots were fired inside the hospital. No injuries were reported.

Police said Bishop stole a car at the hospital and fled. They caught up with him again Jan. 11, 2020, but he dodged arrest again after firing at officers, wounding one. He was captured Jan. 26, and charged in jail with first-degree murder in April 2020.

Randy Bishop, 37, saw his case moved back up one month after a mistrial was declared last week.

Mug shot courtesy of the Colorado Springs Police Department