An East Poultney man charged with killing his elderly mother decided Thursday not to pursue a challenge of the evidence that has kept him jailed on $1 million bail.

Following Roderick Geronimo's plea of innocent on July 3 to a charge of second-degree murder, a hearing to examine the weight of the evidence was scheduled on Thursday to decide if the prosecution had met the burden of proof needed to bring the murder charge

But at the opening of the hearing, defense attorney Mary Kay Lanthier announced that her client had chosen to waive his right to hear and review the evidence that prosecutors say prove he killed is 80-year-old adopted mother, Gertrudes Alwardt.

To prepare for the hearing, prosecutors assembled a number of witnesses, includig state police investigators and emergency medical technicians who responded on July 2 to the home Geronimo and Alwardt shared on the East Poultney Green.

Police said Alwardt was found injured in the home and was pronounced dead at Rutland Regional Medical Center. In an interview with police, Geronimo allegedly said that he thought his mother was possessed by the devil and he was casting the devil out when he struck his mother on July 2 with a table and at least two liquor bottles.