Former visiting nurse Joy O'Shea-Woomer will mark her 50th birthday next month as she did her last: awaiting trial in Lancaster County Prison in the death of 11-year-old Brent Weaver seven years ago.

Her trial on criminal homicide and drug delivery and drug delivery resulting in death charges — scheduled to begin Monday — was postponed until Jan. 4 by Judge David Ashworth.

Prosecutors say Woomer, of East Hempfield Township, injected a lethal dose of morphine into Weaver, a cerebral palsy patient whom she was caring for in his parents' home on the night of Sept. 26-27, 2002.

On Oct. 7, 2008, Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman had said new developments in a six-year investigation yielded sufficient evidence to charge Woomer with homicide and two felony drug charges. She was jailed then.

Ashworth last month rescheduled the trial and granted a motion for additional discovery time.

The trial is scheduled to last two weeks and will include lengthy testimony from toxicology experts.

Stedman said in an e-mail Friday that his office has provided its expert reports to the court and that the delay was not unexpected.

"It is not uncommon in cases like this for there to be some delays," he said.

Woomer's case has prompted concern and skepticism within the local and global nursing community. On the Internet, comments on nursing blogs overwhelmingly support Woomer, who will spend nearly 15 months in jail before trial. Ashworth ordered her to remain in prison after denying bail at a hearing in March.

Woomer's attorney, Christopher M. Patterson, had argued that Woomer had not cared for the boy before and that prosecutors offered no motive, method or even how much morphine was in the boy's system.

In addition to cerebral palsy, Brent Weaver had a seizure disorder and spastic paraplegia, and he could not talk, walk or take care of himself. The child regularly took medications, but morphine was not among them, according to court documents.

His parents, Carol and Mark Weaver, of East Hempfield Township, testified their son was in good condition when they left him in Woomer's care. Woomer awoke them the next mornng to tell them the boy was unresponsive.

Prosecutors have submitted a forensic toxicologist's report that states that the morphine given to the boy was administered after 11 p.m. on the night of his death, when he would have been solely in the care of Woomer.

Magisterial District Judge David Brian last October ordered Woomer held for trial one year after a judge sealed documents in a case in which her employer, Bayada Nurses, settled a civil lawsuit with the Weaver family.

A preview of the upcoming trial is likely contained in the transcripts of the lawsuit filed May 17, 2006, by the Weavers.

Bayada Nurses admitted no culpability, but settled with the Weavers on June 25, 2007. On Oct. 18, 2007, Judge Jay Hoberg granted Bayada Nurses' request to seal all documents from the lawsuit. Ashworth in May agreed to unseal the documents but limited access to Woomer's defense team.

Because the case involves a minor, Ashworth has prohibited Patterson's office from disclosing or discussing the case, according to court documents. He specifically noted that any dissemination of information in the lawsuit to the media would result in contempt of court charges.

Patterson did not immediately return phone calls placed Saturday.

Stedman in June dismissed accusations that his office has been heavy-handed in prosecuting Woomer. He also praised Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield's work in leading the prosecution.

He noted then that two independent members of the judiciary, "one district justice and one judge from the Court of Common Pleas, have ruled that there is enough evidence for this case to proceed."

The prosecution's case appears to hinge largely on the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross and Steven Knoub, chief executive of Hospice of Lancaster, where Woomer previously worked.

Just one day before police arrested Woomer, Knoub told Lancaster County Detective Joseph Geesey "it was possible for a nurse to pilfer morphine in 2002," according to a police affidavit.

Ross testified at the preliminary hearing that his autopsy of Brent Weaver, after the body was exhumed Nov. 12, 2002, found "acute morphine intoxication." However, Ross could not determine the amount of morphine in the boy's body or how it got there.

The case has evoked passionate discussions on the nursing forum Allnurses.com.

HM2Viking posted: "The case was tissue thin." Jollie wrote that she is saddened "that holding Woomer in jail indefinitely and unnecessarily prevents her from fully participating in the preparation of her defense."

Woomer, who has lived in Lancaster County since 1968, attended Millersville University, where she majored in music, and then went to school to become a licensed practical nurse. She worked as a nurse after the boy's death, but voluntarily gave up her nursing license last December.

She has two children, an 18-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.