David Sweeney, left, stands with his fiancee, Bailey Williamson, in the courtroom of Judge Anthony D’Apolito on Wednesday after a short hearing in the aggravated murder case of Kimonie Bryant. Bryant is accused of killing Sweeney’s son, Rowan, 4, on Sept. 21, 2020, in a Struthers home. At right is Mahoning County assistant prosecutor Mike Yacovone.

YOUNGSTOWN ­– Prosecutors in the slow-moving aggravated murder case of Kimonie Bryant may soon know the answer to a question that has lingered for more than a year: Who killed 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney?

During a pretrial hearing Wednesday, Judge Anthony DáApolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and the attorneys for the state and defense agreed that the DNA collected from the killing will be tested at a private lab on July 18, and the results will be available by the end of August.

The results of the testing are expected to tell authorities whether Bryant, 25, is the shooter of the 4-year-old or whether it is co-defendant Brandon Crump Jr., 19.

The judge expressed relief Wednesday that during a 10-minute hearing, the issue of when the DNA would be tested had been resolved after months of ironing out details.

The judge said Wednesday’s hearing was “productive for as little time as we have been together today. If we can accomplish this DNA testing, we’ll have done more than we’ve done in the past 11 months,ã he said.

WHO IS IT?

Bryant was indicted within two weeks of the murder, but testimony in the juvenile case against Crump five months later suggested that Crump could have been the triggerman. Authorities have said telephone locational data suggests that Bryant and Crump were working together in what authorities believe was intended as a robbery that turned into murder.

Crump and Andre McCoy, 22, were indicted on aggravated murder and similar other charges in the killing in March. McCoy has not been located.

Prosecutors have said they expect to get greater clarification on who the primary offender is after they receive the DNA results. The testing has been delayed by questions about whether an expert defense witness would be allowed to watch the testing in person.

DEFENSE

Also discussed at Wednesday’s hearing were several motions the defense has filed asking for charges against Bryant to be dismissed. The defense has filed multiple motions asking for specific charges or specifications to be dismissed on constitutional grounds.

One of the motions is 255 pages long, so Jennifer McLaughlin, county assistant prosecutor, asked for and received an additional 30 days to respond to the motion.

Lynn Maro, a Bryant defense attorney, said additional motions to dismiss will be filed on the basis that the death penalty in Ohio is unconstitutional.

Bryant and co-defendants Crump and McCoy are indicted on charges that could result in the death penalty if convicted.

DáApolito said two constitutional challenges that the defense has filed already will be addressed at the next hearing July 20 while everyone is waiting for the DNA results to be submitted.