CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Two trial dates were set for Chesterfield father and former University of Richmond basketball star Kass Weaver during a motion's hearing on Friday.
Weaver, 50, is charged with felony murder and felony child abuse/neglect in connection to the death of his son Eliel Adon. He is also charged with abusing his wife.
A judge set Weaver's two trials for April and July 2023.
Weaver's arrest made international headlines in 2021 after his son's body was discovered in a freezer at Weavers' Chesterfield home.
Kass Weaver, who has been free on bond since February 2022, was ordered to have no contact with his wife and older son.
His wife also faces charges related to conspiracy to conceal a body and failing to render aid to a child in the death of Eliel Adon.
CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone called the decision to set two trial dates for Weaver a defense strategy.
"Because aggravated malicious wounding of the wife certainly could be prejudicial on the murder of the little boy," Stone said. "If a jury hears [Weaver] was violent in one episode, they could make an assumption he was violent in another which would impact a fair trial."
During previous hearings, the Chesterfield Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told the court a forensic anthropologist determined Eliel sustained multiple injuries over a period of time. They said the child's cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Despite the fact the boy's body had been in the freezer between a year and a half and two years, an anthropologist determined he sustained a skull fracture and multiple rib fractures, among other injuries.
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