One of the alleged murderers of former U. North Carolina student body president Eve Carson has pleaded not guilty.

Laurence Lovette—one of two men accused of kidnapping, robbing and fatally shooting Carson, a Morehead Scholar and then-student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in March 2008—pled not guilty to five charges in a court hearing Thursday. The charges include first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, armed robbery, felony larceny and felony possession of stolen goods, the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court for Orange County confirmed. Jury selection for Lovette’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

The case is expected to last through December, said Trish Wells, a victim and witness legal assistant at the Orange and Chatham County District Attorney’s Office.

“I’m not sure [Lovette] expects to be found not guilty on all five charges,” said James Coleman, the John S. Bradway professor of law. “He probably is trying to avoid a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the murder charge.”

Lovette and his co-defendant Demario Atwater allegedly kidnapped Carson, hijacked her SUV and forced her to withdraw $1,400 from automated teller machines before fatally shooting her multiple times the morning of March 5, 2008.

Atwater pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the other four federal charges related to Carson’s death in 2010 in order to avoid the death penalty. Atwater was sentenced to life in prison without parole in September 2010. Lovette, who was 17-years-old at the time of Carson’s death, is ineligible for the death penalty.

Coleman, who is not at all involved in Lovette’s case, said it is unlikely that Lovette will be pardoned on all five charges because there is photographic evidence of him using Carson’s debit card.

Lovette’s not guilty plea does not indicate guilt or innocence, and is instead a routine part of criminal cases that can force the case to go before a jury, Coleman added.

“The state has the burden of proof to show that he is guilty,” he said. “He does not have to do anything. I would be surprised if he testified.”

Coleman noted that Lovette’s attorney will most likely challenge the state’s evidence by cross-examining the state’s witnesses rather than introduce their own.

The trial will likely attract high media coverage and public interest, especially from the Chapel Hill community who still feels Carson’s absence, Coleman said, noting that although it should not be a factor, public opinion could influence the jury.

“In a high-profile case like this there will be pressure on the jury to convict because it was such a heinous murder that received such large publicity,” Coleman said. “In the back of everyone’s mind the publicity will be a factor.”

In an effort to minimize prejudice amongst potential jury members, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled that attorneys from both sides will question potential jury members individually during jury selection rather than as a group, the Herald-Sun reported Friday.

Lovette was also arrested and charged with murder in the January 2008 death of Duke engineering graduate student Abhijit Mahato. The trial date for the Mahato case remains unknown.

Mahato’s death triggered significantly less media coverage than Carson’s.

“There was a discrepancy between the media coverage of the two cases,” Coleman said. “The case of the Duke graduate student was basically ignored while that of Carson became national news.”

Lovette was on probation for burglary and felony theft charges at the time of Carson’s and Mahato’s death, which has raised questions about the integrity of the state’s probation system.

“Probation basically is taking a chance that the person will not commit further crimes and gives the person the opportunity to turn his life around—in this case, it failed,” Coleman said. “The question is to what extent Durham and the state are able to identify the people who are likely to commit crimes again and those who have the chance of turning their lives around.”