A judge will decide on Monday whether or not to pursue the death penalty in two murder cases, according to the Burke County Clerk of Courts Office.

Judge Gregory Hayes is set to hold the hearings, known as Rule 24 hearings, for Gerald Dean Buff and Steven Adam Taylor during Burke County Superior Court. Both were charged with murder within the last two months.

Buff, 61, of Morganton, is accused of stabbing his neighbor Jimmy Ray Causby to death on Oct. 6. The stabbing happened on Bill Epley Avenue in Morganton, and Causby was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.

A witness previously said the stabbing happened after a brief argument over a stolen welder.

“It all just happened so fast,” Rebekah Meise said after the stabbing. “I seen him stabbing him, but soon as I seen all that, I grabbed my stuff out of his (Causby) car and tried to get away.”

In the Nov. 8 shooting of Kevin Lewis McSheffrey Jr. , Steven Adam Taylor was charged with his murder. Taylor initially said McSheffrey Jr. was breaking into his home on Gold Mine Road in Morganton, according to BCSO.