SAN DIEGO -- A Sept. 11 preliminary hearing was set Thursday for an ex- con with past mental health problems accused of using a stolen flatbed truck to run down and kill a pursuing San Diego motorcycle officer.

Kevin Gerard Williams, 37, could face the death penalty if convicted in the June 26 death of Officer Terry Bennett, a 13-year department veteran.

Attorneys will meet with Judge David Szumowski at a status conference and possibly discuss a date for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to order a trial for Williams.

Defense attorney Angela Bartosik said she will use the time between now and the preliminary hearing to look into "profound" mental health issues involving Williams, who was diagnosed back in 1979 as being psychotic and mentally disabled.

Bartosik asked Judge David Szumowski that Williams be housed by himself if he is transferred from the Vista jail to the downtown San Diego jail, as the judge strongly recommended.

Williams answered "yes" when the judge asked him if he was willing to waive time and have his preliminary hearing in two months.

The defendant is charged with murder, auto theft, evading police with reckless driving, evading police resulting in death, two counts of hit-and-run and special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, killing the officer while he was doing his job and killing the officer to avoid a lawful arrest.

See Images From Scene Of The Crime

A decision will be made later on whether to pursue the death penalty should Williams be convicted.

Williams has a long criminal history and has twice before fled from officers in pursuit, prosecutor David Hendren said at the defendant's arraignment Monday.

Hendren said Bennett started chasing Williams in Encanto. The fleeing GMC flatbed truck was filled with tools and a generator that the defendant had allegedly stolen earlier, the prosecutor said.

Williams made a hard U-turn about 12:30 p.m. and used the truck as a "battering ram to pulverize the defenseless officer" into a fence, the prosecutor stated in court.

The suspect ran over Bennett's motorcycle, then fled -- leaving the officer to die, Hendren said.

Twelve blocks away, Williams supposedly ditched the truck after one tire went flat. When a pedestrian heard sirens and asked him if he was running from the police, the defendant responded, "Yeah," Hendren told Szumowski.

Williams, diagnosed in 1979 as being psychotic and mentally disabled, was arrested a short time later, authorities said.

Szumowski, citing the defendant's prior criminal record and risk of flight, ordered him held without bail.

Williams has nine prior misdemeanor convictions, six felony convictions, and has been to prison three times, Hendren said.