Trial date set in Grand Forks killing
by The Associated Press

GRAND FORKS -- A December 2nd trial date has been set for a Minnesota man charged in the beating death of another man last fall outside a Grand Forks bar.

Twenty-three-year-old Travis Stay of Princeton, Minnesota, was a student at the University of North Dakota when he was charged in December in the death of 38-year-old Joel Lovelien.

Stay has pleaded not guilty to murder. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Officials say the trial could last three weeks.

Authorities say Stay had gotten into a fight with another man in the parking lot of the Broken Drum Bar on October 27, and allegedly turned on Lovelien when Lovelien came to his aid. Lovelien was with friends at the bar and had stepped outside to take a call on his cell phone.