WASHINGTON (AP) - A District of Columbia judge says he wants to move forward with a trial for a German man charged in his wife's death, even if the defendant is absent from the courtroom.

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Superior Court Judge Russell Canan says he recognized Albrecht Muth is too weak to attend the trial because of a self-imposed hunger strike. But he said he wasn't prepared to push back the trial and that technology should allow Muth to participate remotely from his hospital.

Muth is charged with killing 91-year-old Viola Drath, a journalist and socialite, inside the couple's home in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood.

Prosecutors sought to postpone the trial Thursday after a doctor testified that Muth was gravely ill and unable to sit or stand on his own.