The trial of a Lincoln County man accused of capital murder inthe January 2004 death of convenience store owner John Deere hasbeen postponed.

Kenneth Baggett Jr., of 2471 Lake Lincoln Drive, has pleadedinnocent in the killing that occurred at Deere’s Airport Pik andPak convenience store on Old Highway 51.

The case was scheduled for trial Tuesday. However, now it hasbeen rescheduled for Sept. 18.

“It was an agreed continuance requested by the defense,” saidTimothy Jones, an assistant district attorney. “There are a fewthings each side wanted to work on. More time was needed tocomplete trial preparations.”

Baggett was arrested in June 2004 and has spent two years in theLincoln County Jail awaiting a trial date. Jones said that while atwo-year wait for a case to come to trial is unusual, it is farfrom rare.

“This one has taken longer than a lot of trials we see, but thisis a capital murder trial so it is a little more sophisticated,” hesaid.

Jones said the Deere and Baggett families have been notified ofthe postponement and understand the reasons.

Authorities believe Deere, 55, was shot between 4:30 and 4:45a.m. shortly after he arrived to start the business day. He wasfound in the store parking lot around 5 a.m. after officersresponded to an anonymous 911 call. Deere had been shot threetimes.

A cash box that was taken in the incident was later recoveredalong Interstate 55.

In February 2005, divers searched Lake Dixie Springs in aneffort to find the gun believed to have been used in the incident.Authorities have not commented on the results on the search.