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Soltys was on the run for 10 days before authorities caught him as he hid in his mother's back yard.

SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Ukrainian immigrant Nikolay Soltys was arraigned Tuesday on seven counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his pregnant wife and five other family members.

Soltys, who listened to the brief proceedings at Sacramento County Superior Court through a translator, did not enter a plea. His next court appearance was scheduled for October 2.

Soltys is accused of beating and stabbing to death his pregnant wife and four other relatives August 20 and later killing his 3-year-old son, whom he had taken with him.

Jan Scully, the Sacramento County district attorney, said the seventh murder count -- to include the unborn child -- was appropriate.

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"The murder of a fetus can be charged as long as the DA can show the fetus was at least 7 or 8 weeks old," Scully said.

Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will seek the death penalty in the case. Soltys' defense attorney did not rule out an insanity defense. Soltys, 27, is currently held in a psychiatric ward of the Sacramento jail.

"I personally would be proud of our district attorney's office if they didn't file this as a death penalty case, but we'll wait and see," said Tommy Clinkenbeard, the suspect's public defender.

Clinkenbeard said it has been hard to communicate with his client.

"There's a language barrier as well as a cultural difference that I think is going to be difficult to deal with," he said. Clinkenbeard said he did not have immediate access to his client after his capture and complained that "his rights were in jeopardy during the first two days of his arrest."

Soltys was arrested Thursday morning after 10 days on the run. He was found hiding under a desk in the back yard of his mother's home in a Sacramento suburb.