A hearing to determine whether convicted child rapist Russell R. Rehrig should have a new trial is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. March 26 in Schuylkill County court.

Rehrig, now 58, was convicted in September 2007 of raping three children, two of whom were developmentally delayed, in Tamaqua and Allentown.According to court testimony by the children, Rehrig had threatened to kill their parents with a sword if they revealed what he had done to them.But he was convicted in absentia after skipping on his $15,000 bail during jury selection and failing to show up for his trial.Rehrig was found in September 2008 in a parking garage in Atlantic City.The March 26 hearing, continued from Thursday, will be held before President Judge William Baldwin, who had also presided over Rehrig's trial and who had sentenced him to 42-84 years in prison.Rehrig was found guilty on Sept. 5, 2007 of a total of 10 counts of rape; five counts of rape of a child; 13 counts of statutory sexual assault; six counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; 14 counts of corruption of minors; two counts each of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault; and three counts of terroristic threats.At a February 2007 hearing before Judge D. Michael Stine, in which Rehrig sought to have the charges dismissed, the children testified how Rehrig repeatedly raped and molested them.According to court documents and testimony, Rehrig assaulted the children for a year between August 2004 and August 2005. One child finally told a relative what had happened. That relative went to police.