Olathe ? A man accused in the death of a 13-year-old girl in 1974 will go on trial for the second time, a Johnson County judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge James Davis bound John Henry Horton over for trial after a three-day preliminary hearing. He set a scheduling conference for Aug. 17.

Horton, now 60, is charged with killing Lizabeth Wilson, of Prairie Village, on July 7, 1974. Prosecutors say he used chloroform to subdue her and accidentally killed her by giving her too much of the drug.

Horton’s attorneys did not present any witnesses.

The question of whether Horton went to a golf course with his niece and the girl’s friend to get high on chloroform was a central point during the hearing.

On Tuesday, Horton’s niece, Cindy Owens, testified that she could not remember the incident, which allegedly occurred at a golf course in 1974. She continued to insist that she didn’t remember even after Johnson County deputy district attorney Stephen Maxwell reminded her that she once told investigators about such an incident.

The testimony of a second girl involved in the alleged incident was what prompted the Kansas Supreme Court to throw out his first conviction.

She testified that Horton put a liquid on a rag and pushed it onto her face, causing her to lose consciousness. She said that when she came to, Horton was sexually molesting her. In the first trial, Owens also refused to confirm the woman’s story.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the testimony should not have been allowed, and without that testimony, prosecutors wouldn’t have had enough evidence to charge Horton.

The court said what happened to the girl was not similar enough to what happened to Lizabeth. It noted that she had gone willingly to a golf course to get high, while Lizabeth was thought to have been abducted.

The court also said that no evidence had shown that Lizabeth inhaled chloroform, that she was rendered unconscious by it or that she was sexually molested. She was last seen on July 7, 1974, and her body was found six months later in a rural part of Lenexa.

District Attorney Phill Kline charged Horton with first-degree murder or, in the alternative, felony murder.