The jury that will be charged with determining if a 22-year-old Butler man is guilty in the rape and death of 4-year-old boy will be chosen from local residents, despite arguments against the decision from the defendant's lawyer.

The defense team for Keith Jordan Lambing previously argued the death of Bentley Thomas Miller at a motel in 2017 was so well known in Butler County that any jury group drawn from the county would automatically be prejudiced against Lambing. But Judge Timothy McCune said Monday that a local jury would be selected. If an impartial jury can't be formed, then the judge said he would consider a jury from out of the county.

The trial is expected to take around four weeks to try and complete. No trial date has been scheduled, but Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz said that the witnesses she plans on calling during the trial will be available after September.

Lambing sat quietly in court next to his lawyer, Charles Nedz, during Monday's hearing. He has been detained at the Butler County Prison since his March 2017 arrest.

The trial, as outlined by McCune on Monday, will revolve around the prosecution's argument that Bentley was killed on March 21, 2017, in a Super 8 Motel on Pittsburgh Road in Butler Township. Authorities further contend the only other person present in the room at that time was Lambing. Prosecutors will also try to convince a jury that Bentley's mother, Mackenzie Paige Peters, was not present at the time of the alleged crime.

Peters faced her own charges related to the boy's death and was sentenced last year to three years of probation for two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was also sentenced last month to 18 to 72 months in prison after pleading guilty in March to six counts stemming from her role in a drive-by shooting in Butler.

On Monday, Nedz demanded to know if Schultz made any promises to Peters as part of her plea deal. Schultz said she made no deals with Peters.

Schultz told McCune that she hasn't made a list of all the witnesses she plans to call, but she laid out the general line up. It includes investigating officers, medical personnel and various witnesses before and after the alleged crime took place who would bolster the prosecution's argument.

In a decision earlier this month, McCune allowed the district attorney's office to continue to pursue the death penalty. Lambing faces multiple charges, including first-degree homicide, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with serious bodily injury, and rape of a child.

If found guilty, Lambing would face a separate sentencing phase for the death penalty. Gov. Tom Wolf put a halt to the state's execution of all death row inmates in 2015.

With all outstanding issues resolved, McCune said he will begin the scheduling process for the trial.