ELIZABETHTOWN — A trial date in connection with a tragic Keene hunting death last year has been set for Jan. 11.

Michael M. Smith, 44, allegedly fired a bullet that struck a tree and splintered into four pieces, killing Leo Hickey on Nov. 15, 2008.

STATEMENTS USABLE

A suppression hearing held at Essex County Court on Friday ruled that statements Smith made to police that day will remain part of the proceeding, according to Smith’s attorney, Public Defender Livingston Hatch.

“The judge held in the two statements: one made to Trooper Brian McCormick and another made to Bureau of Criminal Investigation detective Joel Revette. They can be used at the trial.”

Prosecutors maintained the statements should remain on the record.

“Every time someone gives a statement to police, we try to use it,” said Essex County Assistant District Attorney Michael Langey, who is handling the case.

Smith was indicted by a grand jury on a single count of criminally negligent homicide, a felony that carries a possible sentence of up to three years in prison.

His trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 11.

FEDERAL CHARGES

Smith is also facing federal charges for gun possession.

“He is restricted by federal charges for possession of a gun,” Hatch explained. “He had been previously convicted of a felony in New Hampshire, stemming from a domestic incident.”

According to details from the federal case, published in the New York Law Journal, Smith was indicted “as a drug user in possession of a firearm, a fugitive in possession of a firearm and a person convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence in possession of a firearm.”