RADFORD, Va. – New details were revealed inside a Radford City General District courtroom on Friday about the murder of a Radford two-year-old, Harper Mitchell.
The man charged in the toddler’s death, Andrew Byrd appeared in court Friday for a pre-trial hearing.
During the hearing, medical officials testified that the two-year-old died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Byrd faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of Mitchell, along with 15 other charges in connection to the incidents that happened in April 2020.
Byrd’s defense team made a motion to get the judge to separate the 16 charges into five different trials.
The judge denied the request.
The defense also made the motion to suppress a video taken from 2020, which shows Byrd saying, “I done it. I killed her.” while correctional officers at the New River Valley Regional Jail were removing Byrd from his cell.
The judge denied the defense’s request and said after seeing the video, Byrd made that statement of his own free will.
Byrd is set to have another court appearance in January.
A trial is scheduled to take place in March.