COEUR d'ALENE - It's been nearly a year since Facunda Valenzuelaleon and her 6-year-old daughter were strangled to death inside a Post Falls apartment.

It will be nearly a year more before Angel A. Morales-Larranaga, 25, is tried in 1st District Court on two counts of first-degree murder for the killing of his 24-year-old wife and his stepdaughter, Dayana M. Valencia. The trial before Judge Fred Gibler is scheduled to begin June 13, 2016.

Prosecutors earlier this year filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. A case with two murder victims automatically qualifies.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh declined to comment about the case on Thursday. Public defender John Adams couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Morales-Larranaga, who appeared in court Wednesday for a case status conference, is being held on a $2 million bond at the Kootenai County jail.

Wednesday's hearing addressed a motion by his defense, which was seeking to have Morales-Larranaga's blue 2006 Subaru Tribeca released. Prosecutors opposed that because the vehicle still contains evidence that needs to be tested.

A judge denied the defense motion.

Morales-Larranaga was arrested on July 8, 2014, in his vehicle near Spokane Street and Poleline Avenue, hours after the killings.

The trial date was intentionally set way out because it's a double homicide, requiring a significant amount of laboratory analysis of evidence, review of the case by expert witnesses for both the defense and prosecution, and the need for the court to address multiple defense motions.