RUSSELLVILLE — Both sides in a Logan County murder case say that they are prepared to have a trial next month.

Gerald Allen Benjamins, 51, of Hodgenville, is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 22 in Logan Circuit Court for a murder charge. Benjamins is accused of killing Brad Rigney, 36, of Russellville on Dec. 28, 2013, at Rigney’s home on Rhea Boulevard.

At a hearing Thursday, Benjamins’ attorney, William Maddox II of the Department of Public Advocacy, said he had provided information gathered by an expert witness regarding DNA evidence to Logan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gail Guiling earlier in the week.

“We’re ready to head to a jury,” Maddox said.

Guiling, when asked by Logan Circuit Judge Tyler Gill, said she is prepared to try the case next month.

Benjamins will return to court Jan. 28 for a review of the case.

Authorities say Benjamins and Rigney emailed one another for a couple of months before Rigney’s death and that the two had arranged to meet at Rigney’s house.

Rigney died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the state medical examiner’s report, though Maddox said at a recent court hearing that evidence exists to suggest Rigney was asphyxiated.

Rigney was a custodian who worked in the Logan County school system. He was deaf and lived alone, according to police.

At a previous hearing in the case, Detective Kenneth Edmonds of the Russellville Police Department said DNA collected from a soda can in Rigney’s bedroom matched a sample taken from Benjamins.

A neighbor and a postal carrier told police they noticed a gray Chrysler PT Cruiser parked outside Rigney’s house during Dec. 27-28, 2013, and police were able to locate the car and determine that it was registered to Benjamins’ half-sister, Edmonds testified.

Benjamins was arrested in October 2014 in Indiana. Police believe that he obtained a bus ticket eight months earlier in Bowling Green at some point after investigators interviewed him.

Guiling said at a prior court hearing that people at a number of homeless shelters in Louisville claimed to have seen Benjamins in the area not long before his arrest. He is being held in Logan County Detention Center on a $1 million cash bond.

— Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter at twitter.com/jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.