Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe, who are charged with killing six members Anderson's family in Carnation on Christmas Eve 2007, will be back in court on Sept. 1 for a pre-trial hearing. Defense attorneys for the two, along with Senior Deputy Prosecutor James Konat, met with King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell this morning for a brief pre-trial hearing. Neither McEnroe nor Anderson were present.

Anderson and McEnroe face the death penalty for their alleged crimes. The two are accused of fatally shooting Anderson's parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson; Anderson's brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Erica Anderson, both 32; and the younger couple's children, 5-year-old Olivia and 3-year-old Nathan.

Anderson told The Seattle Times during a jailhouse interview last summer that she and McEnroe killed her family in a fit of rage, claiming she had suffered years of physical and emotional abuse. Anderson has insisted that she deserves to be executed for what she did.

While it's unclear what argument is being offered by Anderson's defense team about why she should not be executed, Kathryn Ross, who is representing McEnroe, told Judge Ramsdell today that her client is objecting to capitol punishment because it is illegal under state statutes. Ross said that since the death penalty was reinstated in Washington state in 1981 it has been subjected to "wildly broad" interpretations by judges and reasons for its use have been expanded upon.

A trial date in the case has not been set. Konat has believes that a jury won't hear the case until sometime next year.