Alec Miller

The lawyer for a man accused in a 2019 murder expects the case will be ready to go to trial sometime next summer.

Alec D. Miller, 20, is to stand trial on charges of homicide, robbery, burglary, trespass and theft. He remains in the Butler County Prison without bail.

Miller is charged with killing Maximillian W. Halterman, who was found fatally shot March 19, 2019, at his rental home in Oakland Township.

According to police, Miller, a neighbor, shot Halterman the night before and made off with a “large sum of cash and drugs” from the house.

On Wednesday, his lawyer, Charles Nedz, told county Judge Timothy McCune that he is waiting on investigators to complete a report on one of the bullets recovered at the crime scene. Nedz said they also are waiting for improvement to the quality of a surveillance video that purportedly captures the crime.

Nedz noted that his client rejected a plea deal from Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford which would have put Miller in prison for life.

With the plea deal rejected, Nedz said he expects the case to be ready for trial no earlier than next summer. Wednesday's hearing was held to determine if Nedz required additional information that prosecutors might have.

He said that there was no additional information he needed from prosecutors aside from the surveillance video and the ballistic report.

Halterman was found dead on the couch at the log cabin-style home where he lived on Davis Road. An autopsy would determine he died of two gunshot wounds to the head, neck and right shoulder.

The second bullet is still being processed for a report.

Police suspect he was shot the night of March 19 but the shooting wasn't reported to police until about 7:30 a.m. March 20 when one of Halterman's sisters called 911.

The investigation also led troopers to Robbie Dunbar Jr., 28, of Butler, who police allege Miller texted after Halterman was killed.

“I went to Max house and smoked him,” one text read, according to court documents. In another text he admitted shooting Halterman in the head and neck.

And the video state police are trying to improve was from a security camera on a detached garage at Halterman's house. On the video, according to police, a truck that fits the description of Miller's grandparents' pickup arrived at Halterman's home about 7:40 p.m. March 19.

The video also allegedly shows Miller getting out of the truck with a “long gun” and then a muzzle flash is seen through a crack in the door leading into the house.

Investigators allege that the teen was there for 24 minutes and took cash and drugs from the house before leaving in the truck.

Police eventually arrested Miller on March 21 at the Franklin home of his girlfriend's uncle in Venango County and he has been in the county jail since then.