Travis Fowler, the York man accused of driving drunk and killing a Lancaster County resident 4 1/2 years ago, finally is scheduled to make what may be his final court appearance.

York County Judge Richard K. Renn ruled Tuesday morning that Fowler will stand trial next month.

Renn waived a requirement that the prosecution bring the case to trial within a year. That would be within 365 days following Pennsylvania appellate court rulings in the case early this year.

At the same time, defense attorney Justin McShane waived a jury trial, which means Renn will decide Fowler's fate.

If all goes as now planned, the judge will begin hearing testimony Jan. 16 in a case that has been delayed repeatedly.

Case postponements have frustrated family members of Nelson Newcomer, the 56-year-old Manor Township man killed in July 2008.

Next month, Nelson's father, Earl Newcomer, 85, will travel once again from Manor Township to the York County Judicial Center, hoping to watch his long ordeal end.

Nelson's mother, Ruth Newcomer, will not accompany her husband. She died Sunday morning at the age of 84.

Linda Newcomer, one of Earl Newcomer's remaining two children, measures the duration of the court case by her mother's decline.

"My mom has gone from being a healthy woman to dead," she says.

 "We know the length of time this case has taken."

In an interview last spring, Ruth Newcomer said she found it difficult to accept her son's death "through no fault of his own."

She said she and her husband were getting old, "but you're never supposed to lose your children before you die."

Fowler was scheduled to plead guilty to homicide by vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and other charges last summer.

Under a plea agreement reached by prosecutors and Fowler's attorney, Judge Renn was to have sentenced Fowler to 11 to 25 years in prison.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, Fowler hired a new lawyer. McShane's Harrisburg-based law firm specializes in defense of DUI cases throughout the state.

Fowler and McShane in August decided to kill the plea agreement and take the case to trial. A jury trial was scheduled for Dec. 10. Tuesday's decision removes the jury and postpones the trial date by more than a month.

Nelson Newcomer was killed July 19, 2008.

According to a witness who was driving in a car behind the defendant, Fowler, then 25, was driving at speeds up to 100 mph when he hit Newcomer and his motorcycle on Route 30 in Hellam Township, York County.

Fowler kept driving, but police tracked him and his damaged SUV. Tests showed his blood-alcohol level was .221 percent — nearly three times the legal limit.

Police charged Fowler with drunken driving. Then they discovered that he had four previous DUIs, dating from 2001 to 2003.

Based on those previous DUIs, prosecutors charged Fowler with third-degree murder,

Fowler's previous defense attorney disputed the third-degree murder charge and the introduction of previous DUIs as evidence.

The case was delayed for years as it moved through York County and state appellate courts. All courts upheld the prosecution in proceedings that ended last March.

Even so, the plea agreement reached last summer was tilted slightly in Fowler's favor. Sentencing guidelines called for 12 to 24 years in state prison; prosecutors settled for 11 to 25.

Prosecutors also dropped the third-degree murder charge, retaining homicide by vehicle.

But Fowler's decision to take the case to trial scotched that agreement.

Now Earl Newcomer, distressed by the death of his wife of 64 years and the further delay of legal proceedings in his son's case, questions whether the January trial date will stand.

"I have to wonder," he says, "what [Fowler] can do to delay the trial again."