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The man sentenced to death for the 1995 murders of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill heads to trial on unrelated California murder charges this week. Robert James Acremant is charged with murder while committing robbery and murder while lying in wait under special circumstance of prior murder convictions, said Sharon Henry, supervising district attorney in Tulare County, Calif. If convicted, Acremant faces either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Tulare County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, Henry said. Acremant was the first person in Jackson County to be condemned to death since Oregonians voted to restore capital punishment in 1984. He was sentenced in October 1997. He confessed to killing Ellis and Abdill, a Medford lesbian couple, in December 1995. Acremant said he wanted the money from the couple's rental business to help him win the heart of a Las Vegas stripper. Knowing that Ellis and Abdill were lesbians made killing them easier, he said. While Medford police were investigating the murders, Acremant told them where they would find the body of Scott George, a Visalia, Calif., resident who was last seen partying with Acremant on Oct. 3, 1995, said Medford police Lt. Tim George. Acremant admitted to shooting Scott George in the head and heart. Lt. George will travel to Visalia on Monday with Medford Sgt. Roy Skinner and detectives Tim Doney and Terry Newell to testify in Acremant's trial. It's been a long haul for everybody involved here, so we'd like to get it done, Lt. George said. Originally scheduled for September last year, Acremant's California trial was postponed when he threatened to kill his court-appointed attorney, Jim Kordell, and the attorney's family, said Carol Turner, Tulare County assistant district attorney. Kordell asked to be relieved of his duties representing Acremant, Turner said. Visalia attorney Marcus Olmos now represents Acremant, Henry said. The trial is expected to run between three and four weeks with evidence presented on Monday, Henry said. Medford investigators are scheduled to testify Tuesday or Wednesday, Lt. George said. Jury selection for the trial took approximately two weeks to complete, Henry said. Acremant is imprisoned in Tulare County. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail