In June, Kyles' attorneys filed a motion arguing his statements to police should be tossed out at trial, claiming he gave false confessions and his Miranda rights were violated.
In September, Judge Charles Pater denied that motion to suppress, and it appeared Kyles' trial would begin Monday , more than a year after the fatal shooting.
But last month, Kyles' attorney’s file a motion to continue the trial because a defense false confession expert had not been able to listen to Kyles' interrogation tape with police or interview him.
Kyles confessed to shooting Stewart, 35, at his Ninth Avenue home, according to court documents. According to a search warrant affidavit signed by Middletown Detective Kristi Hughes, after police found Stewart dead at his home, Kyles was developed as a suspect.
At the time, Kyles was also wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor for an indictment in a drug case and for participation in a gang. Kyles was taken into custody at a Sharon Court address after detectives tracked his ankle monitor, according to court documents.
Kyles has previously rejected a plea offer of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 24 years in exchange for his guilty plea to aggravated murder with a gun specification.
Defense attorneys indicated Kyles offered to plead guilty to aggravated murder if he received a 20-year prison sentence, but the offer was rejected by the prosecution.
Defense attorneys said Kyles indicated his statements to detectives were false. He has been held in the Butler County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond since his arrest.
Kyles is one of three teens charged in Stewart’s death.
In March, Camron Pawlowski, 17 and who was tried as an adult, was sentenced to prison for 15 years. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated burglary and having weapons under disability with gang and gun specifications.
According to police and prosecutors, Pawlowski and Kyles conspired to rob Stewart. Pawlowski provided Kyles with the gun and Kyles shot Smith, according to investigators and court documents.
In February, 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to murder in juvenile court and was sent to the Ohio Department of Youth Services until his 21st birthday.
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