We get the occasional e-mail or phone call from a variety of folks wondering what happened to the criminal case against Michael Marin.

He's the onetime financial analyst, art collector and author who stands accused of torching his sprawling Biltmore Estates mansion in the summer of 2009.

  In two words, not much.

Marin still faces arson charges in the quirky case, which we explored in this story a few months after the high-profile fire totaled the home (Marin escaped injury by shimmying to safety out of a second-floor window after allegedly donning handy scuba gear).

A county judge has moved Marin's trial date back yet again after allowing defense attorney RIchard Gierloff to withdraw from the case.

There's this thing called money, and we're betting that Marin's financial well has run dry. Hell, he supposedly was running short when we wrote the original story -- one of the prosecution theories is that he set fire to the place to collect on the insurance money. 

The judge appointed a public defender to represent Marin, and that probably means additional months of getting up to speed on the facts.

Marin, by the way, is out of custody, so it's not as if he's in any hurry to resolve the thing.

Whether the guy is guilty or innocent of wrongdoing, Lady Justice sure has been taking a nap on this one.

The Phoenix Fire Department investigated the case.