LISBON –The man identified as the alleged driver involved in the 2021 murder of Brycen Douglas in East Liverpool will face a jury trial at 9 a.m. March 18, with a final status hearing set for 10:20 a.m. March 9.

Travis W. Kidder, 25, Bradshaw Avenue, East Liverpool, appeared Friday for a pretrial in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court before Judge Megan Bickerton. He was accompanied by his defense attorney, James Wise, and was in the custody of deputies from the sheriff’s office.

Kidder signed a new waiver of his right to a speedy trial, which was required due to the superseding indictment.

He was originally charged with just a third-degree felony of obstructing justice for allegedly lying to investigators. The superseding indictment charged him with the obstructing count, along with aggravated murder and murder and two counts of complicity in the commission of an offense, all unclassified felonies, and three firearm specifications, all related to the shooting. 

Bickerton continued his bond, which was reset to $1 million when he was arraigned on the new charges. He was originally supposed to face to trial on Jan. 14, with a status hearing set at 10:20 a.m. Jan. 5, but those dates have been canceled.

Douglas was just 20 years old at the time of his death and was sitting on a porch with some friends in East Liverpool’s east end on July 15, 2021 when he was shot.

Elvin “EJ” Tisdale, 35, was sentenced in June to life in prison without the possibility of parole for aggravated murder (with the murder charge merged for sentencing), plus an additional mandatory three years for a firearm specification and an additional three years for  having weapons under disability for being prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous felony conviction for drugs.

His “cousin” Allen Tisdale, 25, was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison in July after testifying in the trial against EJ. He entered a guilty plea in May to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and complicity to improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation, a second-degree felony. He was originally facing charges of aggravated murder and murder, but eventually told investigators what happened and agreed to testify as part of a plea deal.

He testified at EJ’s trial and said that EJ and Curtis Holland walked between two houses across the street from the porch in question and opened fire, hitting Douglas. Allan said he was the lookout and he identified Travis Kidder as the driver who brought them all to the area near Pennsylvania Avenue.

Curtis D. Holland, 29, Dewey Avenue, East Liverpool, was indicted in the same recent grand jury as Kidder, charged with aggravated murder and murder, both unclassified felonies, a third-degree felony of having weapons while under disability and two firearm specifications. He’s accused of causing Brycen’s death and of using a weapon when he was prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous drug conviction.

His jury trial was set for 8:30 a.m. March 9, with a final status hearing set for 9 a.m. Feb. 19.

During Kidder’s hearing, the state was represented by county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone.