PIKEVILLE, Ky. (WMDJ)  — The murder trial for three men charged in connection with the death of Amber Spradlin has been delayed until next year after a hearing Monday focused heavily on unfinished forensic testing in the case.

M.K. McKinney, Dr. Michael McKinney and Josh Mullins had been scheduled to go to trial this week. However, Judge Eddy Coleman ruled the case should be postponed after hearing testimony from a supervisor with the Kentucky State Police forensic crime lab.

The court heard the state crime lab has received 145 pieces of evidence connected to the case, not including electronic evidence. According to testimony, the lab normally handles evidence in batches of 10 items, but the Spradlin case involves five separate submissions containing far more evidence than usual.

KSP Forensic Lab Supervisor Davey McCann testified evidence must be processed carefully to avoid contamination. Each item is screened, pretested and tested individually before going through reporting and peer review. The court heard that process can take as long as eight months for a single submission of 10 pieces of evidence.

According to testimony, one submission in the case contained 41 pieces of evidence, another contained 36 items and a fifth submission included 50 pieces of evidence. Two DNA submissions are still pending completion, with one expected to finish review by the end of May and another possibly taking until late summer or early fall.

Prosecutors argued the remaining forensic testing is important to both the murder charge against M.K. McKinney and tampering charges involving the co-defendants. Defense attorneys also said the unfinished evidence is important to ensuring a fair trial.

Judge Coleman ultimately ruled the trial should be continued in the interest of justice and rescheduled the case for Jan. 11, 2027. Another pretrial conference is scheduled for Sept. 17