DANVILLE — A man accused of murdering his elderly mother on Christmas is scheduled to stand trial in March.

Vermilion County Circuit Judge Craig DeArmond on Thursday set Michael T. Gibbs' jury trial for March 19, after Gibbs waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Gibbs, 44, faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in connection with the Dec. 25 death of his mother, Ethel Gibbs. Authorities said Mrs. Gibbs, who was 84, was beaten to death, and an autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma.

Gibbs, through his attorney, Vermilion County Public Defender Jacqueline Lacy, pleaded innocent to the charges on Thursday.

He is being held in the Vermilion County Jail on a $1 million bond, meaning he would have to pay $100,000 in order to be released.

Mrs. Gibbs' body was discovered in her apartment at Immanuel Senior Residences, 1415 Eastview Ave., in Danville, on Christmas by her cousin, Carol Danbury. Danbury went to check on her relative when she failed to show up for the worship service at First Baptist Church that morning.

Police arrested Michael Gibbs later that afternoon, and Gibbs was formally charged with his mother's murder two days later.

Danbury did not attend Gibbs' hearing on Thursday. But she said she's happy to hear that a trial date has been set.

"As long as he's behind bars, I'm happy," she said. "I feel like that's the best place for him."

Gibbs served time in the Missouri prison system for driving while intoxicated and assault from November 1998 to 2006 and was released from all supervision in September 2006, according to a spokesman from the Missiouri Department of Corrections.

While Gibbs listed his mother's address as his own in court documents, Danbury said he didn't live with his mother at the senior apartment building.

"He has basically been homeless since he was released from prison," Danbury said. She said he had an apartment at one time, but recently had been living at the Danville Rescue Mission and other places.

Danbury said Gibbs worked construction off and on. She said her cousin told her while she loved her son very much, she was concerned about him because he had a substance abuse problem.

"It was her prayer and desire that he would turn his life around," Danbury said.