Lester Holt

Mario, you've been covering it for several years now.

That's the case of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heerman, who is awaiting trial on charges that he murdered seven women and dumped their remains along Gilgo Beach and other parts of Long Island between 1993 and

and 2011.

He has pleaded not guilty.

What's new in the case?

Well, Lester, it's been going on and on and on and on.

But there was a new court filing last week by prosecutors, which gave us some more details on some of the evidence, the alleged evidence that they want to try to use in court against Herman.

According to this latest filing, investigators discovered that Herman, using two different burner phones, contacted sex workers over some 500 times between January 2021 and February 2023.

And the defense wants the judge to exclude this evidence.

Why?

Well, the defense says the phone records are irrelevant and potentially prejudicial if a jury hears about them.

They say just because Herman is contacting sex workers doesn't prove he's done anything wrong, but knowing he did that could turn jurors against him.

The prosecution completely disagrees, and in this filing, they say he had a pattern of behavior of interacting with these sex workers, and the burner phones are evidence of a consciousness of guilt, that he was hiding his tracks because he knew what he was doing was something wrong.

And when do we think the judge will decide on this motion?

Well, we'll see, Lester.

There's a hearing next week.

The judge is expected to rule on this and some other pretrial issues.

But several months ago, the judge said that this trial will start after Labor Day.

But, you know, Christmas is after Labor Day.

So maybe we'll find a trial date out.