Judge Arthur C. Hadden on Monday ruled that the state had established probable cause to justify the prosecution of Atlantikh Balidemaj on the charge of murder in a fatal Norwich shooting in 2022.

Hadden said that state prosecutors, during the course of two days of evidence at a probable cause hearing last week in New London Superior Court, had produced sufficient evidence to continue the prosecution of the case. The ruling, Haddan said, was not a determination of innocence or guilt.

Balidemaj, 23, of Norwich, is charged in the Nov. 5, 2022, shooting death of 30-year-old Jashira Pagan, a woman who he said he met the night before her death and went back to her home. He denies shooting her and on Monday entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder, carrying a pistol without a permit and illegal discharge of a firearm.

Balidemaj’s attorney, William T Koch Jr., had argued that the state has no evidence Balidemaj had a gun and there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, which occurred outside Pagan’s home at the Uncas Condominiums off Route 32 in Norwich.

Balidemaj remains held on $5 million bond and is due back in court on July 22.