This from the Kokomo Tribune:
PERU, IN — A jury trial has officially been put on the court calendar for a Marion man who police believe helped beat another man to death in the Frances Slocum State Forest, also known as Okie Pinokie, near Peru in May 2018. The trial for Ethan Cain, 22, is set to begin on Aug. 19and is expected to last two weeks. That date was set during a pre-trial hearing Thursday morning in Miami Circuit Court, where Cain appeared via video conference from the Miami Correctional Facility. Cain faces felony charges of murder, obstruction of justice and robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, as well as a misdemeanor charge of theft. Police say that Cain was involved in a plot, organized by an 18-year-old Jonesboro woman named Brittany Morris, to rob Summitville resident Drake Smith, 22, of drugs and money. That plot eventually led Cain and Morris — as well as LaFountaine resident Joshua Kean, 24 — to Okie Pinokie, where police say Cain and Kean beat Smith to death with a metal pipe after a party in the woods, court records indicated. Kean also appeared before the judge via video conference on Thursday in his own pre-trial hearing, where his attorney told the judge that he is seeking a continuance in Kean’s trial, which was also set to begin on Aug. 19. He is currently facing charges of murder, assisting a criminal, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice and theft. If a motion for a continuance is granted, his trial might be moved to December or January. Cain and Kean’s next pre-trial hearings are both scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 6, in Miami Circuit Court. Morris is facing charges of aiding or inducing murder, aiding or inducing robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and a misdemeanor charge of theft and is due back in court at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, May 23.