A trial date was set Tuesday for the capital murder case against a New Kensington man charged with the beating death of a toddler in 2020.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears ordered the case against Keith Dale Lilly Jr., 36, to begin in September. In doing so he also conceded the logistics of the 5-year-old prosecution may prevent the trial from starting on schedule.
The judge also scheduled another long-awaited pending case for trial during the same week. That case involves a Fayette County man who is accused of providing a fatal dose of fentanyl-laced heroin to a former high school friend in East Huntingdon in August 2020.
Both cases are the oldest ones awaiting trial before Mears.
“I scheduled both cases for September and we’ll see whatever case is ready,” Mears said.
Lilly is accused of inflicting head injuries that caused the death of Mikel Fetterman, who was weeks shy of his third birthday when he died after a monthlong hospital stay in April 2020. Prosecutors contend Lilly was left alone to care for the boy when he was violently shaken and sexually abused.
The boy’s mother, Theresa Fetterman, 28, of Lower Burrell was charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, child endangerment and related offenses, and, according to her lawyer, she is cooperating with authorities in Lilly’s prosecution. Police said she was asleep in another room during the attack. Her case was postponed until early next year.
Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against Lilly if he is convicted of first-degree murder.
Defense attorney Tim Dawson said the defense is awaiting a report from a Missouri-based medical expert hired to evaluate the evidence as part of Lilly’s claim the child’s fatal injuries were not a result of his actions. The defense expert’s report is expected to be complete in about a month.
Through his defense team, Lilly has suggested the boy was injured when he fell off a couch.
Lilly has been in custody without bond since his arrest in 2020.
Meanwhile, Dawson also is the lawyer for Steven Shively, 36, of Everson, who is charged with drug delivery resulting in death in connection with the Aug. 2, 2020, fatal overdose of 30-year-old Jason M. Schwartz in East Huntingdon. Dawson has been awaiting trial for nearly five years, accused of trading fentanyl-laced heroin to Schwartz, a high school friend, in exchange for Klonopin pills.
On Shively’s behalf, Dawson hired the same medical expert contracted to review evidence in Lilly’s case. The doctor told the judge she will submit her report to the defense by the end of this week.
Shively is free on bail as he awaits trial.
“These cases are long delayed, and we need to get them moving and get them tried,” Mears said.