An ex-convict accused of punching his pregnant girlfriend and threatening to kill her unborn child will go to trial in January.

Michael S. South, who already had a life sentence imposed in an earlier case and has been convicted by a jury this year on three felonies including assault and battery, was supposed to go to trial late last month for allegedly threatening his girlfriend with a camp hatchet and a 10-inch knife before raping her.

South’s latest charges include two felony counts of aggravated assault, rape, kidnapping and domestic battery. A three-day jury trial to address those charges, which was set for November, has been postponed until Jan. 8 in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court.

South, 44, who served time for aggravated assault, has spent the better part of this year in the Kootenai County jail. He was arrested in March, released on $150,000 bail and rearrested the following month for violating the conditions of his release.

He was found guilty by a jury in August on three felonies and has contested the statements of his 39-year-old girlfriend in the latest case, saying their sex was consensual.

The alleged victim told police that South more than a year ago had threatened to “chop off” her head or “debilitate” her. He had kicked her in the chest, “stomped” on her when she was pregnant, and threatened to “cut that baby right out of” her, according to a police report.

South allegedly told the victim he would nick her jugular with a knife so she could watch the blood squirt, and that he just “wanted her to suffer,” according to a report in court records.

He later told another witness that he was out of his mind and had snapped when he allegedly threatened the victim.

The woman left the area for many months before returning and contacting authorities. She wanted to press charges against South, she told authorities, because he had threatened her family and she feared he would eventually kill someone if he wasn’t stopped.

Defense attorneys preparing for next month’s trial have asked the court for several conditions, including that prosecutors be prohibited from bringing up South’s previous convictions, his status as a persistent violator, any pending charges in Montana, that he allegedly strangled the victim “to unconsciousness,” or that he allegedly broke the victim’s phone in a rage after seeing text messages from other men.

A district judge in November allowed a request that South wear street clothes at his trial.

Prosecutors plan to use evidence of South’s previous violent behavior, called 404 evidence, at the trial, according to court records. Prosecutors also said they plan to use evidence showing that South allegedly made the victim have sex with other men. That evidence was already used at a preliminary hearing.