Trial delayed again in boy's 2005 killing
BELLEVILLE — The southwestern Illinois murder trial of a man accused in the beating death of his live-in girlfriend's 6-year-old son on Christmas more than five years ago is on hold again.
St. Louis' KSDK-TV reports the St. Clair County trial for 38-year-old Lee Crutchfield was to begin Monday but has been pushed back to Oct. 24, marking the latest delay in the case.
Crutchfield and Ryon Smith's mother, 29-year-old Starr Lohman, are charged with first-degree murder.
Smith's body was found on the bedroom floor of the home Crutchfield shared with Lohman. Authorities say the child had been repeatedly beaten, and that he died of blunt trauma to the head and torso.
Crutchfield has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed.
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