Trial for suspect in postal carrier killing delayed

Newly discovered evidence in the federal murder trial of Kaprise and Thomas Sledge caused the start of the trial to be moved from Monday to 8:30 a.m. this Friday, according to a Sunday and a Monday filing in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

The Sledges were supposed to go on trial Monday in the March 2, 2024, shooting death of U.S. Postal Service carrier Jonte Davis, 33, at Olive Avenue and Scott Street just northeast of Courthouse Square in Warren.

Kaprise Sledge, 25, is from Warren. His father, Thomas Sledge, 45, is from Youngstown.

Federal prosecutors filed a response to the motion filed by the attorney for Kaprise Sledge that says the government did not oppose postponing the trial until Friday because the reason for the postponement was prosecutors discovering additional U.S. Postal Inspection Service reports on Wednesday related to the investigation in this case.

"Despite its persistent best efforts to timely produce all responsive (evidence in the government's possession) throughout the course of this litigation, on Aug. 12, 2026, the government discovered" the documents.

"Counsel for the government were not aware of these additional reports. And these reports were not made available to counsel for the government before Aug. 12. As a result, these newly discovered reports were not previously produced to the defendants," the prosecution filing states.

The government filing states that 87 pages were found and 80 pages of reports that did not have to be provided under the rules. Nonetheless, the government "opted to also provide these latter materials to defendants' counsel for review out of an abundance of caution."

The government sent the documents to the defense Thursday in the early afternoon.

A separate filing by Thomas Sledge states that he also does not oppose a brief postponement of the trial.

A Friday government filing gave notice to the defense that the expert testimony of a digital forensics examiner will be given regarding the extraction and analysis of the cell phones of the two defendants. A footnote states that a new report is an updated version of two prior extraction reports dated May 29, 2024, and July 17, 2024, that were provided to the defense Nov. 8, 2024.

The filing by Kaprise Sledge asking for the postponement is not available on the public docket for viewing.