SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new date has been set for the trial against a man accused of murdering eight people in what has been called Tennessee’s deadliest serial homicide.

The trial against Michael Cummins is now expected to begin on Jan. 18, 2024 and go through Feb. 3, 2024, according to documents filed in the Sumner County Criminal Court.

This was the fourth time the trial date was moved since it was originally set to begin in 2020. It is still unclear why the trial was moved from April 10, 2023. The judge has issued a gag order in the case.

Cummins, who is facing 12 charges related to the alleged murders in Westmoreland, pleaded not guilty after his arrest in 2019. The victims reportedly include his parents, uncle, neighbors and a child.

Police found the first four victims at a home on Charles Brown Road on April 27, 2019. Three more victims were found in the hours and days following, with an eighth homicide that occurred a few days prior also linked to the alleged crime spree.

At the time, investigators described the crime scenes as some of the most gruesome they had ever seen. A sole survivor, Mary Hosale, gave a video deposition before she passed away in 2022 that will likely be used in the trial.

Court documents obtained by News 2 indicate that Cummins has a lengthy criminal background. Cummins had previously pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and arson after setting his neighbor’s house on fire in 2017 and then attacking her as she tried to put out the flames.

In an interview after the alleged murders, Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley revealed a state probation officer was preparing to arrest Cummins on a probation violation one day before the bodies of the first victims were discovered.

The state is planning to seek the death penalty.