March 29 will be suspect’s first opportunity to enter a formal plea.
Arraignment has been set for 9:30 a.m. March 29 in the case of Shuvender Sem, the 24-year-old Maharishi University of Management student accused of stabbing another student to death in the university dining hall March 1.
Trial information was filed Thursday in Iowa District Court for Jefferson County by county attorney Tim Dille and assistant county attorney Pat McAvan, who are the prosecutors in the case.
A judge reviewed the prosecutors’ evidence and ruled it was sufficient to warrant a trial.
The March 29 arraignment will be Sem’s first formal opportunity to enter a plea.
Sem’s court-appointed attorney, Les Lamping of Washington, Iowa, was out of the office today and unavailable for comment.
In addition to setting the arraignment date, the judge kept Sem’s bond at $1 million. As an added condition, if Sem is released on bond, he will be prohibited from entering the M.U.M. campus or coming within 500 feet of campus.
Sem is still being held in Jefferson County Jail.
He faces a charge of first-degree murder in addition to a charge of aggravated assault stemming from an earlier incident in which he allegedly stabbed another student with a ball-point pen during class.