Chaz Higgs is flanked by his lawyers, Alan Baum, left, and David Houston, at his arraignment Friday in Reno. Judge Jenny Hubach set a Dec. 7 hearing to determine whether Higgs will be tried for murder in the death of his wife, state Controller Kathy Augustine. Photo by The Associated Press Chaz Higgs, , right, listens to his lawyer, Dave Houston, while waiting to be arraigned Friday at the Washoe County Jail in Reno. Higgs is facing charges in the death of his wife, state Controller Kathy Augustine. Photo by The Associated Press

RENO -- A judge on Friday set a Dec. 7 hearing to determine whether Chaz Higgs should be tried for murder in the death of his wife, state Controller Kathy Augustine.

Higgs, shackled and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, replied "yes" when acting Reno Justice Court Judge Jenny Hubach asked him if he was aware of the murder charges filed against him by the Washoe County District Attorney's Office.

Higgs also answered "yes" when asked if he would waive a requirement that his preliminary hearing be conducted within 15 days.

Higgs spoke through a video link from the Washoe County Jail. He was flanked by his lawyers, Alan Baum of Woodland Hills, Calif., and David Houston of Reno, during the five-minute hearing.

Houston asserted Higgs' innocence and questioned whether Reno police had properly investigated the case.

"I have not seen anything to tell me she (Augustine) was murdered," Houston said after the hearing. "If anyone murdered her, it certainly wasn't Chaz Higgs."

Once police thought Augustine might have been poisoned, they stopped investigating other causes for her death, Houston said.

Authorities "found a subject and then designed evidence to fit their conclusion," Houston said.

Higgs, 42, has no criminal record and fully cooperated with Reno police after Augustine's July 11 death, according to Houston.

Through Baum, Higgs notified police repeatedly of his whereabouts during the summer as he visited relatives in North Carolina and Virginia, Houston said.

Police were able to arrest Higgs on Sept. 29 in front of his brother's house in Hampton, Va., because Higgs had told them he would be there, Houston said.

"There is no motive (for murder) in this case," said Houston, whose office wall is lined with plaques declaring him Reno's defense lawyer of the year. "He stood to get nothing (from Augustine's estate). He had no hope of getting anything."

Houston said Higgs was so grief-stricken by Augustine's death that he had to leave Nevada to try to recover with friends and family in the East.

After the hearing, police unsealed records detailing what they had confiscated while executing a July 12 search warrant at the Reno home of Higgs and Augustine at 9673 Otter Way.

Police seized a datebook/journal containing handwritten notes, a glass bottle labeled as containing a general anesthesia drug, prescription medication carrying the names of Higgs and Augustine, a bottle thought to contain Visine, a cut gray T-shirt and drug containers apparently left behind by paramedics who sought to revive Augustine.

The owner of the journal was not identified.

Because Higgs cooperated with police and is not a flight risk, Houston said he will ask for bail and his release in the next couple of weeks. Unless Higgs posts bail, he will remain jailed until the Dec. 7 preliminary hearing.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Barb said the hearing will take only a couple of hours. Barb said his case against Higgs will be based almost entirely on results of a toxicology test and testimony from a nurse at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

Following an autopsy on Augustine's remains in Reno, the FBI's crime lab in Quantico, Va., found succinylcholine in samples of Augustine's blood.

Succinylcholine is a powerful muscle relaxant often used in emergency rooms to help doctors insert breathing tubes into patients. It can be lethal if a patient's respiration is not ensured by medical professionals.

"If the toxicology test had not come back positive for a drug that can kill you, there would be no case" against Higgs, Barb said.

Authorities said a nurse at Carson-Tahoe Hospital contacted police and told them she had a July 7 conversation in which Higgs told her succinylcholine was the perfect murder weapon because he thought it was impossible to detect the drug in the human body.

Higgs called 911 early on July 8 to report he had found his wife was not breathing in the bedroom of their home.

Augustine was rushed by ambulance to Washoe Medical Center (now called Renown Medical Center) and never regained consciousness before dying July 11.

Higgs told the media and authorities that his wife had suffered a massive heart attack brought on by campaign stress.

Augustine had been impeached in 2004 for campaign ethics violations but was allowed to remain in office. She was a Republican candidate for treasurer when she died.

Barb acknowledged it's rare to win a conviction based solely on evidence that a paralytic drug was used to kill.

Succinylcholine has a "half life" of about 42 seconds, according to Barb. There have been only six or seven cases in the country where people have used the drug to kill, none in Nevada, he said.

While some succinylcholine cases have been thrown out because defense lawyers challenged the testing, Barb said the "testing in 2006" is much improved.

Houston said he will hire his own experts and challenge the toxicology test. He said succinylcholine occurs naturally in the body. Houston said he does not know whether the drug the FBI found was synthetic or natural.

"Did they really find it in her system? I don't know," he said. "But I do know if you are looking for something you can find a derivative of it in the body."

Houston said it strains credibility to claim a skilled nurse like Hicks would be so stupid as to tell a fellow nurse that he planned to kill his wife with succinylcholine.

Barb said it is too early to decide whether the district attorney's office will seek the death penalty. He said he will oppose granting Higgs bail.

Houston said he and Baum have discussed seeking a change of venue because of the publicity surrounding the case in Reno. But, he said, the case also has been closely followed in Las Vegas.

"Where would we go, Elko?" he asked.

Barb said he believes an objective jury could be found in Reno.