Two old murder cases are making a slow and tortuous journey through the Nova Scotia justice system.

Both cases were in Supreme Court in Halifax this morning and both cases appeared to stall.

One involved the 2011 stabbing death of Keya Simon outside an apartment building in north-end Dartmouth.

Police did not get a break in the case until the summer of 2014 when they arrested Demarqus Shane Beals, 26, and charged him with second-degree murder.

Beals was supposed to go to trial in June, but three days before the scheduled start of the trial, he fired his lawyer. Beals has been back in court several times since then. Each time, he has said he's close to hiring a new lawyer.

'Mr. Beals is dragging his heels'

Today, Beals told court he is meeting with a new lawyer tomorrow.

The court had rescheduled his trial for January of next year. But this morning it was learned that neither the Crown nor the lawyer Beals has approached will be available for those January dates.

"We've essentially lost those dates because Mr. Beals is dragging his heels," Justice Patrick Duncan said. He told Beals to return to court later this month with a new lawyer to set new dates.

Twenty days had been set aside for a judge and jury trial. Finding that large a block of time in the court schedule will likely push the case back by several months.

Beals is free on conditions in the meantime.

Man killed on Uniacke Street

The other murder case that returned to court today is even older: it's the shooting death of Kevin Bowser, who was gunned down on Uniacke Street on July 4, 2004. He died later in hospital.

Kevin Bowser, 28, had two young children at the time of his death in 2004.

It wasn't until July 2014 that Shilo Marcino Beals was charged with first-degree murder in Bowser's death. Police said at the time that they received information through the province's Major Unsolved Crimes program that led to the arrest.

Waiting on Toronto lawyer

Beals has also had a difficult time finding a lawyer to represent him.

This morning Duncan read aloud an email from prominent Toronto criminal lawyer D. Sid Freeman. In her message, Freeman asked the court to schedule a trial for Beals any time after Sept. 10, 2018, saying she wasn't available before then.

Shilo Beals faces a first-degree murder charges in the 2004 death of Kevin Bowser. (Halifax Regional Police)

She also indicated she has not yet been retained and cannot guarantee she will be representing Beals at his trial.

"I'm being asked by a lawyer who's not promising to be here to set a trial for two years down the road," Duncan said.

Trial set for 2018

Duncan said he has never seen anything like this and the notion of scheduling that far in advance creates a lot of problems.

Duncan had Beals confirm on the record that he was waiving his right to have his matter heard within 30 months.

Dates were set aside for the trial in two years' time. But Duncan ordered Beals and Freeman to come back to court next spring to provide an update on whether she will be representing him.