Raymond Clark III, the Yale lab technician accused of murdering Annie Le GRD ’13, appeared in New Haven Superior Court this morning, waived his right to a probable cause hearing and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and felony murder.

The felony murder charge was new Tuesday. It means that, if a jury concludes Le’s death was unintentional, the prosecution can still get a conviction if it shows that Clark killed her in the course of another major crime, such as kidnapping, robbery or rape.

The prosecution has not presented any likely motive.

Clark spoke only a few words at the 10-minute hearing. He confirmed that he voluntarily chose to follow his lawyers’ advice in skipping the probable cause hearing, in which state prosecutors would have to prove they have enough evidence to charge him.

Also during the hearing, the defense motioned to release the vehicle of Clark’s mother, which was seized for evidence during the police investigation. Judge Roland Fasano agreed to the request but also granted the prosecution the right to use the car for secondary evidence should Clark’s case go to trial.

The seal on the remaining search and seizure warrants that have not yet been released to the public will remain in effect until the next pre-trial hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, at 2 p.m.