AUBURN – The trial date for a Sabattus man charged with fatally shooting his father at his 65th birthday party has been delayed because his attorney and the presiding judge have received new judicial appointments.

Scott Poirier, 35, is accused of shooting his father, Roland Poirier, in the throat with a rifle from outside his father’s Lewiston home while his father was inside with family members and friends on Nov. 8, 2006. The son later told police he was abused by his father when he was young, and that he wanted to protect his own children.

Poirier’s murder trial was scheduled to begin last month, but it has been put on hold because of new appointments for his attorney and the judge in the case.

Poirier has hired a new attorney after his previous attorney, Michaela Murphy, was appointed as a Maine Superior Court judge.

At the same time, Superior Court Justice Ellen Gorman has been appointed by Gov. John Baldacci to fill a vacancy on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

The new judge in the case is Joyce Wheeler, who had sat on the bench in Rockland but has moved to Androscoggin County to assume Gorman’s former duties.