PORT ANGELES — Kevin Bradfield’s murder trial in the October strangulation death of Jennifer Pimentel will be rescheduled Friday.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor last Friday granted a defense attorney’s request to postpone the trial-setting hearing to give lawyers more time to find a DNA expert.
Bradfield, 22, is charged with second-degree murder with an exceptional sentence that would give the court the option of imposing a life sentence if he is convicted in the death of the 27-year-old developmentally disabled woman.
His trial was originally scheduled for last Monday.
Port Angeles police allege that Bradfield strangled Pimentel on Oct. 9.
Bradfield’s girlfriend, Kendell Huether, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance and two counts of witness tampering for allegedly helping Bradfield dispose of Pimentel’s body near the Hood Canal Bridge and then trying to cover up the death of her childhood friend.
Huether, 25, is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 19. She will have a pretrial hearing Monday at 9 a.m.
Huether and Bradfield have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.
Bradfield is being held in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bail.
Huether remains in custody on $100,000 bail.
Prosecutors last week said there isn’t enough DNA material for the state and defense experts to test in both cases.
Defense attorney Loren Oakley suggested last week that a common DNA expert be hired.
Pimentel was staying with Huether and Bradfield on a trip to Port Angeles, her hometown, in the weeks leading up to her death.
About 350 mourners attended her funeral in Port Angeles on Oct. 29.