Trial Set For Georgetown Man Charged With Wife's Murder

German expatriate Albrecht Muth's trial on charges that he murdered his wife, Viola Drath, will start on Dec. 2 and continue on Jan. 6, 2014, a judge ruled in D.C. Superior Court. 

The judge also denied a request to subpoena General David Patraeus as a witness in Muth's defense at a November status hearing. 

Despite Muth's continued hospitalization, both the prosecutor and Muth's lawyer agreed that they were ready for trial at that hearing, court records said. 

Muth was hospitalized under critical condition in February 2012 after he went on a hunger strike. He continues to fast on and off and remains in a "weakened physical state," unable to attend his hearings, Muth's doctor told the court. 

Muth was arrested in February 2011 after he allegedly found his 91-year-old wife and well-known journalist, Drath, dead on the bathroom floor of their Georgetown row house. He was charged with her murder in August 2011. 

Muth has been in and out of the hospital since his arrest for mental and physical reasons. He was deemed mentally fit for trial in August 2012 with a psychological diagnosis for "narcissistic personality disorder." 

And although he is unable to travel between the hospital and the courtroom, he waived his right to be present, allowing the trial to go on without him, court records said.