In a document released Tuesday, a federal judge outlines the reasons why he denied the defense team's request to postpone the trial until 2010.
Click here to read the judge's order.
In February, 22-year-old Demario Atwater's attorneys asked the court to postpone his federal trial in November, saying jury selection would be challenging. They also argued the selection would likely take several weeks possibly conflicting with the holiday season.
Atwater and Lawrence Lovette are accused of kidnapping UNC student body president Eve Carson from outside her home Chapel Hill home on March 5, 2008. Her body was found the next day in a neighborhood near UNC's campus.
The federal indictment against Atwater lists eight special findings, which are the aggravating circumstances needed to obtain a federal death penalty.
The second suspect, Lawrence Lovette, who was 17 at the time of the murder, will not face the death penalty.
