Before jurors decide the fate of a South Charleston man accused of killing and stuffing a 2-year-old boy in a freezer, prosecutors must decide which charge they want him to be found guilty of.
Jarrel Stricklen, 24, who is accused of killing Gavin Aldridge in May 2015, was indicted by a Kanawha County grand jury on both charges of first-degree murder and death by a parent, guardian, custodian or other person by refusal to supply necessities.
During a pretrial hearing on Thursday, one of Stricklen's lawyers asked Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King to require prosecutors pick one of those charges to bring against Stricklen at trial.
"These are contrary indictments," said Charleston lawyer Matthew Stonestreet. "One of them accuses him of premeditation, while the other says he failed to care. This puts [Stricklen] at a disadvantage defending himself. Are we accusing him of failing to do something or actually doing something?
"We just want to know what he's charged with," Stonestreet said.
Assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers told King that Stricklen is indicted "in the alternative." That means jurors are presented with both charges to decide between.
Akers said the case was brought with an alternative charge against Stricklen because of the autopsy conducted on the 2-year-old by the state Medical Examiner.
King, despite saying he didn't see how the two charges put Stricklen at a disadvantage, ruled prosecutors must make up their mind about which charge for jurors to deliberate on before closing arguments are made in the case.
Gavin Aldridge died from "physical assault with fatal asphyxiation with the possibility of hypothermia," according to an autopsy conducted by the state Medical Examiner. "We charged it that way because it depends which way the Medical Examiner goes," Akers said of the two charges Stricklen faces.
Something stopped the boy from breathing, but no water was found in his lungs or nose, South Charleston police previously said. Stricklen initially told police the child's death was an accidental drowning. The Medical Examiner wrote that the "findings were inconsistent with a drowning," however.
The child had been dead for several hours when Stricklen allegedly placed him in a freezer. He didn't call 911 until the next day, prosecutors said.
Stricklen's trial had been set to begin on Monday, but King agreed Thursday to push it back. Prosecutors requested a continuance in the trial because a witness they expect to call to testify as an expert won't be available next week, Akers said.
A new trial date was expected to be scheduled Friday, King said.
Stricklen had been set to go to trial in December but a psychological report to determine his competency hadn't yet been provided to King at the time. Stricklen was determined competent to stand trial, the report showed.
Akers revealed during Thursday's hearing that on the day of the toddler's death, Stricklen had asked to babysit the boy three times. The child's mother eventually dropped the boy off at Stricklen's house before taking his twin brother for an emergency room visit because that boy had hit his head on a coffee table, according to Akers.
Troy Giatras, another of Stricklen's lawyers, has questioned why the child was left with Stricklen in the first place. He wasn't a paid babysitter and didn't really know the child's mother, Meghan Aldridge.
Stricklen's lawyers Thursday asked that they be provided transcripts of interviews conducted by officials with Child Protective Services and Meghan Aldridge's three other children in the aftermath of Gavin's death.
When prosecutors pushed back, Stonestreet said that prosecutors "are saying every bruise [on the child] is a product of this one incident."
"If there have been other abuse allegations made we should know about them. One kid went to the emergency room on the day the child went to the defendant's," Stonestreet said.
Akers said she didn't have any documents from CPS involving an investigation into the child's mother. She said it would require an order from King to obtain the sealed information. The prosecutor also said she didn't think a CPS report would change the case against Stricklen.
"The defendant only watched one of the twin boys and maybe only one or two times before this incident. The mother was never present and there are no allegations of abuse against her," the prosecutor said. "He is the only person who had custody of the child when the child was suffocated and killed," Akers added, pointing toward Stricklen.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.