Trial set for Sabina’s accused killer

Donte Johnson, the North Philadelphia man charged with raping and murdering a Northern Liberties waitress last year, will go on trial March 26, 2012, a judge ordered this morning.

Johnson, 19, could be sentenced to death if convicted of murdering Sabina Rose O'Donnell, 20. The woman's naked body was found in a vacant lot near her North 4th Street apartment in the early hours of June 2, 2010.

Johnson confessed to police and was linked to the crime by DNA, but he wants a trial, said defense attorney Douglas Dolfman, whom Johnson hired in December after firing his first attorney.

While being represented by the first attorney, Johnson indicated that he planned to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the chance for parole.