held before February 1996, his lawyer said yesterday.

Holder is accused of the second-degree murder of 20-year-old Michael Keesser at a party last year in the American state of Delaware.

He will be tried in Dover, Delaware, as an adult, and could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Yesterday, his lawyer, Mr. Andre Beauregard, said the trial date had been repeatedly put off. "It is now set for the second week in December, but it probably won't be held until February.'' Holder, who lives in Dover with his Bermudian mother Mrs. Dawn Madeiros, is charged with three co-defendants, aged 16 to 20.

Mr. Beauregard said the four were being tried separately in order of suspected "culpability''. He added one of the defendants, Jimmy Chance, of Delaware, had been found guilty of second-degree murder, but had not been sentenced because an appeal was pending.

"My client, Joshua Holder, is being tried last,'' he said.

Holder is the son of Bermudian divorcee Mr. Charles Holder.