SAN DIEGO -- The murder trial of a former county toxicologist accused of poisoning her husband in a love triangle will go ahead as scheduled Oct. 4, a judge ruled Thursday.

Kristen Rossum, 25, is charged with murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder by poison in the Nov. 6, 2000, death of her husband, Gregory de Villers.

After a 10-minute meeting in chambers with defense and prosecution attorneys, Superior Court Judge John Thompson told both sides to have their pretrial motions filed by Aug. 21 and be ready for motion hearings by Sept. 5.

A handful of reporters were in the court when Thompson made the ruling. Attorneys had no comment afterward as the judge has placed a gag order on participants in the case.

Rossum, who is free on bail, waited by herself as the attorneys and judge met prior to the ruling in open court.

Prosecutors in the widely publicized case allege Rossum gave de Villers a lethal dose of fentanyl because he threatened to expose her affair with her supervisor in the county medical examiner's office.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Goldstein and defense attorney Vic Ericksen represented the two sides in the meeting with Thompson.

Investigators became suspicious of de Villers' death because rose petals had been spread about his body in a scene reminiscent of the movie "American Beauty."

Goldstein has said he learned that was a movie Rossum loved.

During the earlier preliminary hearing, it was revealed that a quantity of fentanyl had been discovered missing from the medical examiner's office.

Both Rossum and her supervisor, Michael Robertson, were fired by the county late last year -- Rossum for methamphetamine abuse and Robertson for failing to report the methamphetamine use.