MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) — A teen accused of killing the wife of a prominent defense attorney and carving a ritualistic-looking symbol into her back pleaded not guilty today to murder charges.

The arraignment of Scott Dyleski, 17, was brief and devoid of emotion.

He was ushered into the courtroom at 9 a.m.; his thin pale hands were cuffed behind his back; his black wavy hair was slicked back behind his ears.

Dyleski's public defender entered the not-guilty plea for him, denying the charges of murder and the special circumstance of using a bludgeon — specifically, a piece of bloody crown moulding that detectives discovered at the crime scene — in committing the crime, as well as a new charge of burglary.

Dyleski spoke few words: affirmations of "I do" when asked perfunctory questions about his understanding of the charges and whether he had discussed his plea with his attorney.

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He wore the same green prison-issue sweatshirt and blue pants he wore during a preliminary hearing last month when a judge determined there was sufficient evidence to try him for the Oct. 15, 2005, murder of 52-year-old Pamela Vitale.

Vitale's husband, criminal defense attorney Daniel Horowitz, watched silently from the gallery, his chin in his hand as he stared at the young man, a neighbor who allegedly beat his wife to death during a tumultuous struggle for motives that are still not quite clear.

As Horowitz watched Dyleski's arraignment, his former client Susan Polk was in a courtroom one floor below, beginning a fourth day of jury selection as she prepares to defend herself against charges of stabbing her husband to death in 2002 with a paring knife.

Polk, 48, says she acted in self-defense and that her 70-year-old husband continually threatened her with bodily harm during their 20-year marriage.

Horowitz and co-counsel Ivan Golde were just a few days into Polk's first trial in October when Horowitz came home on a Saturday evening to find his wife's badly beaten body at the entrance of their home. Criminalist witnesses testified at Dyleski's preliminary hearing that the killer carved an "H" into Pamela Vitale's back, a symbol resembling those found in Dyleski's room among his Goth-inspired drawings and lyrics.

Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady ultimately declared a mistrial in Susan Polk's first case, citing the intense media attention to Horowitz's tragic discovery. Polk later fired Horowitz and the judge granted her request to defend herself.

Brady is presiding over Polk's retrial, and has told jurors the trial may be up to two and a half months in length.

Jury selection is still under way, and several potential jurors have expressed deep reservations about the length of the trial, as well as Polk's decision to represent herself.

A "foolish" decision, said one juror. "Arrogant," said another. Those jurors were dismissed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a very long day, and we're close, but we're not quite there," Judge Brady announced at the end of court Thursday.

The panelists return to court Monday. Opening statements, according to the judge, will likely begin on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Scott Dyleski's trial date has been set for July 17.

His parents did not appear in the courtroom this morning.