BATON ROUGE - A woman accused of poisoning a man she claimed was her husband is set to appear in court again early next year year.

Meshell Hale’s arraignment is set for January 7, 2019. She is facing a charge of second-degree murder in the 2015 poisoning death of Damian Skipper. 

Hale was set to be arraigned in court Thursday, but it was delayed due to her not having hired a new attorney. Her arraignment had already been delayed once this year after her previous attorneys pulled out of the case. She said Thursday she believed she could hire a new legal team by her next court date in January. 

Hale allegedly used barium acetate, a powerful poison used in previous high-profile murders, to kill Skipper.

Skippers's body was exhumed and autopsied and his death was labeled a homicide from poisoning after investigators in New Orleans began investigating the poisoning death of Hale's actual husband, Arthur Noflin, who had also been sick with similar symptoms. He was found dead in March 2016.