Events in the news this week.

Richard Ramirez, accused of 14 “Night Stalker” slayings in Los Angeles, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges of rape and attempted murder in a 1985 attack on a Mission Viejo couple. Orange County prosecutors have said they will probably not pursue a trial if Ramirez is convicted and sentenced to death in Los Angeles, but Ramirez’s attorneys have indicated that they may seek an Orange County trial first.

If Ramirez refuses Wednesday to waive his right to a speedy trial, Orange County judges would have to schedule a trial within 60 days. That would make it impossible for him to be in Los Angeles for the start of his trial there, now scheduled for February. The defense lawyers have been feuding with Judge Michael A. Tynan, who will preside over the Los Angeles case, because they want more time to prepare for that trial.

Ramirez, 27, is accused of the Aug. 25, 1985, break-in at the Mission Viejo home of William Carns and his fiancee. Carns was shot three times in the head, and his fiancee was raped by a man who declared to her that he was the Night Stalker.