WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia prosecutors say a German man charged with killing his elderly wife is forfeiting his right to be present for his own trial by engaging in lengthy hunger strikes, and a judge would be authorized to proceed without him.

Albrecht Muth is awaiting trial in the August 2011 strangulation and beating death of his 91-year-old wife Viola Drath, a fellow German expatriate and journalist, inside the couple’s Georgetown row home. His periodic bouts of starvation, and resulting physical weakness and hospital stays, have delayed court proceedings and exasperated the judge and lawyers on both sides.