LISBON — Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton agreed Monday to separate the cases against the two Tisdales accused in the 2021 shooting death of Brycen Douglas.

The move requested by defense attorneys for Elvin EJ Tisdale and recently unopposed by prosecutors means next week’s jury trial is now canceled, with new separate dates set this summer for Elvin EJ Tisdale and Allen Tisdale.

“The trials will be tried separately,” Bickerton said.

Elvin EJ Tisdale, 34, Newell, W.Va., and Allen N. Tisdale, 24, Lisbon, were each charged with aggravated murder, murder and firearm specifications for allegedly killing Brycen Douglas, 20, who was found shot to death on the front porch of a Pennsylvania Avenue home in East Liverpool on July 15, 2021.

Elvin EJ Tisdale is also facing an additional charge of having weapons while under disability, due to being prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous felony conviction.

The trial for EJ will happen first, with an interim status hearing set at 11 a.m. April 28, a final status hearing at 11 a.m. June 16 and a jury trial at 9 a.m. June 24.

The dates in the case against Allen will include an interim status hearing at 9 a.m. May 16, a final status hearing at 9:20 a.m. July 21 and a jury trial at 9 a.m. July 29.

Bickerton reviewed outstanding motions in the cases, with defense attorney Coleen Hall Dailey telling the court the only one of their motions that needs a ruling dealt with their request for investigative notes from police and investigators from the night of the incident.

County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone mentioned a motion the defense filed asking for the grand jury transcript, for which he believed a response was filed. He noted that evidence previously considered undisclosed has been disclosed.

He explained that the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is currently analyzing bullet fragments and those results remain pending.

A motions hearing that was supposed to held Monday became unnecessary when Dailey confirmed that the expert witness the defense planned to call regarding ballistics won’t be called, so Yacovone withdrew the state’s motion for a hearing on the matter.

EJ is represented by both Dailey and Paul Conn while Allen is represented by defense attorneys Charley Kidder and T. Robert Bricker.

The state is represented by Yacovone, county Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones and county Assistant Prosecutor Chris Weeda.

Previously, the state opposed the motion to sever filed by EJ’s defense team, who wanted a separate trial for their client. Recently, though, Yacovone wrote that new evidence would require separate trials for the two Tisdales.

He revealed that the state had come into possession of new evidence that by law would require the trials to be severed or separated. Conn and Dailey claimed their client’s right to a fair trial would be violated if there was a joint trial for EJ and Allen.

Both Tisdales remain incarcerated in the Columbiana County Jail under $1 million cash or surety bonds.

The brief hearing was attended by two family members of the victim, Brycen Douglas, who was not the intended target of the shooting, according to court documents filed by the prosecution.

mgreier@mojonews.com