The prosecution of Travers and Tremayne Johnson, both charged with animal cruelty, will resume Monday morning with pretrial motions, followed by jury selection.
The schedule was set back six hours Friday because a jury deliberating in a separate case needed access to the courtroom and Travers Johnson, who is in custody on unrelated attempted-murder charges, was not transported to court in time.
The brothers are accused of dousing a pit bull puppy with gasoline in 2009, then setting it on fire. The dog, nicknamed Phoenix by rescue workers, had to be euthanized.
The proceedings will move to a ceremonial courtroom Monday so Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill can assemble a larger-than-average pool of potential jurors. The case has received national attention, and it may be difficult to find jury members who are not familiar with the allegations against the 18-year-olds.
The trial is expected to last between two and six days, attorneys said. On Friday, an attorney for Travers Johnson argued that his brief statement to police should be suppressed. The argument will continue Monday with testimony from a Baltimore detective.
Other defense pretrial motions involve suppressing witness identifications, issues with city surveillance videos, a witness who has expressed an intent to recant, and whether the prosecution can include references to the teens' tattoos and alleged gang involvement.
During a hearing in October 2009, Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Rallo outlined plans to present expert testimony about the brothers' "affiliation with a gang."
