Patrick McInerney, charged with the December 10 stabbing death of a man he had taken into his New London apartment, appeared Wednesday in the New London court where major crimes are tried and met his new attorney.

Judge Hillary B. Strackbein appointed Kevin C. Barrs, the district's chief public defender, to represent McInerney, a 44-year-old self-employed painter who could not afford to hire an attorney. Barrs and McInerney will be discussing whether McInerney wants a probable cause hearing, and McInerney will return to court on Feb. 6. As a murder defendant facing up to 60 years in prison, he is entitled to compel the state to prove at a hearing that there is enough evidence to prosecute him.

McInerney has been held in lieu of a $1 million bond at the Garner Correctional Institution since New London Police charged him with the murder of 49-year-old Robert R. Pomerleau. A friend said McInerney let Pomerleau, a native of the Bristol area, stay at his apartment at 39 Tilley St. after Pomerleau was released from prison. According to court records, Pomerleau had been sentenced July 20, 2017 to nine months in prison for violation of a protective order and disorderly conduct.

A witness said McInerney was arguing with Pomerleau about "not staying for free" at the apartment when the altercation escalated into pushing and shoving. The woman said as Pomerleau was leaving the apartment, McInerney followed him into the hallway, then returned and grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer. She said McInerney stabbed Pomerleau once in the left side of the chest, and Pomerleau fell to the ground.

Police received multiple 911 calls at 8:35 p.m. about the incident and arrived to find Pomerleau lying on the stairs between the second and third floors of McInerney's apartment building at 39 Tilley St. Pomerleau, bleeding from a puncture wound to the chest, was taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.