The case against the two brothers accused of killing Ethan Liming has been ongoing for over three months.
DeShawn Stafford, 21, and Tyler Stafford, 19, are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault. They have pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defense.
Their trial is scheduled to begin this week, with jury selection on Wednesday and opening statements on Friday. The trial is expected to last two weeks and draw national attention.
The defense attorneys for the Staffords have argued that their clients were the victims of an unprovoked attack by Ethan and his friends, who shot them with gel pellets that caused pain and injury.
They have also said that Ethan escalated the conflict by picking up a pellet gun and shooting DeShawn Stafford in the face, prompting him to punch Ethan in self-defense.
The prosecution, however, has maintained that the Staffords were the aggressors who overreacted to a harmless prank and brutally beat Ethan to death.
They have also presented evidence that someone stomped on Ethan’s chest hard enough to leave a shoe print, indicating excessive force.
The case has also raised questions about Ohio’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows people to use deadly force without retreating if they feel threatened.
The defense attorneys have said they will invoke this law if necessary to prove their client’s innocence.
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Racial tensions have also influenced the case, as some white supremacist groups have protested outside the Akron Police Department, demanding hate crime charges against the Staffords, who are Black.
However, the police and Ethan’s family have repeatedly said that race had nothing to do with what happened to Ethan, who was white.
