KEY POINTS:
A three-week trial is set to start on May 25 next year for two men charged with the murder of a teenager found dead in a Christchurch reserve.
The date was set at a pre-trial conference before Justice Paul Cooper in the High Court at Christchurch today, the Christchurch Court News website reported.
The trial would include 23 hours of video interviews, the hearing was told by defence counsel Mark Callaghan.
Thomas Tihema Christie, 25, and Sonny Avon Rehu, 31, were remanded in custody for the murder of 16-year-old Sean Martin William Phillip Finnerty-Gallagher, who was found dead in Riccarton's Auburn Reserve early on February 13.
The depositions hearing last month was told that the victim had a blood-alcohol level that was nine times the legal driving limit for a person his age.
A pathologist told the hearing that death resulted from asphyxia caused by the combination of the way he was lying with his airways partly blocked, and the level of intoxication.
He had a series of injuries, including head injuries.
Up to two days have been set aside for pre-trial legal arguments beginning on March 27.
- NZPA