During a status hearing on Tuesday morning, Patrick Stallworth, one of the suspects charged with capital murder in the death of three-year-old Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, made an appearance in court.
McKinney was abducted from a birthday party at the Tom Brown Village housing community in Birmingham in October 2019. Her body was found in a dumpster ten days later.
During the status hearing, the prosecution revealed that all the evidence related to Stallworth’s case is still in federal custody. As a result, a tentative trial date for September has been set.
According to Jefferson County Judge Alaric O. May, no trial will be set for either defendant until the federal process has been completed. Status hearings will continue to be scheduled, and the cases will be placed on the administrative docket with an administrative hold. It is expected that Stallworth’s trial will be scheduled first, and if he is convicted by the state, he could potentially face the death penalty.
In July, there is a competency hearing scheduled for Derick Brown, who will be tried separately in the case.
In 2022 federal trials, Stallworth and Brown were convicted of kidnapping that led to the death of a victim and conspiring to abduct a minor.
Both Stallworth and Brown received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, with counts one and two running concurrently for each of them.