BATH — The trial of a third defendant charged with murder in a drug-related killing in Lewiston last Easter Sunday got under way Monday in Sagadahoc County Superior Court.

The trial of Zaccheus King, 20, was moved outside the Lewiston area, in part because of heavy publicity surrounding the case.

Jury selection was completed, setting the stage for the start of testimony.

King was charged with the slaying of Juan Carlos Rodriguez, 20, who was gunned down last April 16 in a Knox Street apartment.

The admitted trigger man, Joseph Jackson, 30, was convicted last year of manslaughter. A separate jury found his alleged accomplice, Jeremiah Moore, 33, guilty of murder.

Prosecutors at the earlier trials said Jackson and Moore had plotted to rob and assault Rodriguez.

King was to have been tried with the other defendants, but his case was delayed because of an eleventh-hour conflict involving the lawyer who represented him at the time.