The German national who went by the name Clark ­Rockefeller and conned his way into high-society circles from California to Boston will be tried next month in the 1985 killing of a computer programmer in California.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge set the trial date for Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter for March 11, paving the way for what is expected to be a highly publicized proceeding. Dozens of people who knew Gerhartsreiter under his myriad aliases could testify during the trial, which is expected to last five weeks, said Brad ­Bailey, one of Gerhartsreiter’s attorneys.