Attorneys for an Allegheny County man facing a potential death penalty for the alleged murder of his 9-year-old son in New Kensington told a Westmoreland County judge that prosecution delays have left them unable to move forward with preparing their defense.

The case has languished in the courts for nearly 18 months.

Jean Charles, 41, of Brackenridge has been in jail without bond since he was charged in September 2022 with first-degree murder.

The body of Azuree Charles was found near his home at East Ken Manor in New Kensington five months earlier, in May 2022. Police said Jean Charles strangled the boy, then dragged his body over an embankment and tried to hide it under lawn furniture.

During a court hearing last March, defense attorneys said they expected to file pretrial motions in the case before the end of 2023. Those motions have yet to be filed. During a court appearance Monday, defense attorneys blamed the delay on the prosecution.

“We finally started to get some discovery, and now we need time to go through six inches of paperwork. There’s no delay because of us,” said Westmoreland County public defender Wayne McGrew. “It’s just been so slow coming in. But for the delays from the commonwealth for the last year and a half, we’d be better able to tell the court where we are at.”

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Echard told Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio that the District Attorney’s Office had struggled turn over its evidence to the defense but most of it has now been disclosed. Additional digital files are being prepared for release to the defense, Echard said.

The judge ordered prosecutors to appear for another court hearing March 14 to address ongoing issues related to the production of evidence.

Prosecutors have said that, if convicted, Charles should be subjected to the death penalty because his victim was younger than 12 and he was subject to a court order at the time of the alleged murder that restricted him from having contact with the boy.

Prosecutors claim Charles was permitted by his former wife, Luella Elien, who is the boy’s mother, to watch Azuree and his three younger sisters in defiance of the court order.

Charles previously pleaded guilty to assaulting the boy in 2019 and was accused of doing so again in November 2021, according to court records.

Elien, 31, of New Kensington was charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment and hindering prosecution. Police said she failed to prevent her former husband from abusing the child and permitted Charles to stay at her home despite knowing there was an active warrant for his arrest.

Elien’s case is pending. She served two months in jail following her arrest but was freed Nov. 19, 2022, after she posted $50,000 bond, according to court records.

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