The case of a Norwich man accused of fatally shooting Jaclyn Wirth on Nov. 14, 2011 while trying to collect a drug debt was headed to trial in New London Superior Court this summer, but has been put on hold because the defendant, LaShawn R. Cecil, has a new attorney.

Cecil, 36, was charged in 2015 with murdering Wirth, who died of multiple gunshot wounds after her killer fired nine rounds through the front door of her apartment at 6D East Baltic St. in the Mohegan Park Apartment complex.

Cecil initially was represented by attorney William T. Koch Jr., who was preparing the case for trial.

Koch was disqualified from the case last week after prosecutor Stephen M. Carney notified the court that Koch had a conflict of interest because he previously had represented a man who was going to testify against Cecil at trial.

Koch said Friday that he had represented Christopher Mims in a federal drug case in 2006.

Mims had signed a statement in January 2016 saying that Cecil had made incriminating statements to him while the two were incarcerated together, Koch said.

In April, Mims was charged with battering his ex-girlfriend for hours before engaging police in a lengthy standoff at his Ledyard home.

During the standoff, Koch said Mims recanted the statement, telling police during a FaceTime call, "Everything I said about Cecil was a lie."

With Koch off the case, attorney Christopher Duby has been appointed to represent Cecil and is reviewing the evidence.

Cecil is being held at the MacDoughall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield and is scheduled to return to court on July 11.

Wirth's boyfriend was in prison and she was home alone with her two young children when she was killed.

Norwich police allege Cecil, working as a runner for a local drug dealer, was looking to collect money from Wirth's boyfriend's brother, who did not live at the apartment.

k.florin@theday.com