IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A judge is pausing the prosecution of a man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts while the Iowa Supreme Court consider whether to grant a rare pretrial appeal. Judge Joel Yates on Wednesday stayed the first-degree murder case against Cristhian Bahena-Rivera, the farmhand accused of killing Tibbetts in July 2018.

The stay will continue until the Iowa Supreme Court decides whether to grant Rivera’s appeal of a decision issued by Yates last month that allowed key evidence to be presented to jurors. It’s uncertain whether Rivera’s Feb. 4 trial will proceed as planned.