Joshua Greaves

A Mercer County man who allegedly slashed a Kittanning man's throat in March during a drug deal in Lyndora won't go to trial this month. A county judge approved a defense attorney's request to push back various filing deadlines.

The order, approved by Judge Timothy McCune, means the trial for Joshua K. Greaves, 34, will be pushed back to sometime next year, assistant district attorney Richard Bosco confirmed Monday, following a brief court proceeding before McCune.

Greaves has been charged with homicide, felony robbery, robbery of a motor vehicle, theft, receiving stolen property, hindering apprehension, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy after allegedly killing Gregory W. Bosko, 55, and dumping his body in a wooded area along Redbud Road.

Bosko's body was found on April 1, and Butler County Coroner William Young III ruled his death a homicide, saying Bosko's throat had been cut “multiple times.”

Greaves and Tiffany N. Hilliard, 30, of Butler, have been charged in the case. Police arrested them March 24 after finding them on the 300 block of West Wayne Street in a vehicle owned by Bosko.

The pair initially gave police false names, according to court documents, but Hilliard eventually told investigators where to find Bosko's body.

County prosecutors have said they are seeking the death penalty against Greaves, and that won't change despite what his defense attorney said was a “relatively lengthy and passionate” plea to Bosco last week.

Defense attorney Christopher M. Capozzi, who is representing Greaves, said he asked prosecutors to withdraw a notice of aggravating circumstances — a legal filing they must present in a death-penalty case — last week, but was turned down. Capozzi was not immediately available for comment following the court proceeding.

Greaves continues to be held in Butler County Prison without bail.

Hilliard, who has also been charged in the case but is not facing a homicide charge, also remains in the county jail on $500,000 cash bail and two unrelated probation detainers.