McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - A preliminary hearing will be held next month in Pittsburg County for a convicted child rapist indicted by a grand jury on new counts of child sexual abuse.

A hearing will be held Dec. 17 in McAlester to determine if there is sufficient evidence to try 65-year-old David Harold Earls on three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 16.

Earls pleaded no contest in May to first-degree rape and forcible sodomy for attacking a 4-year-old girl. All but one year of a 20-year sentence was suspended as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that resulted in public outcry.

The attorney general's office then launched a probe into Earls' background, and a grand jury indicted him on additional charges.