PARIS – Whether Christian Nielsen goes on trial this week in the killings of four people in western Maine won’t be decided until the last minute.

Justice Robert Crowley was scheduled to hear motions, including one to have Nielsen declared incompetent to stand trial, on Tuesday, the day before jury selection is to begin in Oxford County Superior Court.

Crowley already declared Nielsen to be competent, but that was before Nielsen stopped eating and began losing weight. The 6-foot-tall defendant’s weight dropped by about 12 pounds after his last court appearance, to 106 pounds.

Defense attorney Ron Hoffman said the weight loss was severe enough to cause Nielsen’s health to deteriorate and to affect his thinking. He also questioned whether Nielsen has the physical stamina to cope with being in court during the trial.

Nielsen, whose health is being monitored at the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, began eating small amounts after his father was granted medical guardianship, giving him the decision of inserting a feeding tube if necessary.

The medical team decided against a feeding tube after Nielsen began gaining weight. As of Friday, he weighed 114 pounds, officials said.

Nielsen, 32, is charged with killing three women at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast in the rural ski town of Newry. He also is accused of killing a fourth victim, an Arkansas man, miles away in the woods in Upton.

Nielsen indicated last month to the judge that he wanted to plead guilty to avoid going to trial. But his plea was never changed.

His legal team will attempt to show that he was not criminally responsible for his actions because of mental health problems.