There has been a change of course in an Ohio man's criminal defense trial. The 25-year-old man was in court facing felonious assault charges when the case ended in a mistrial this week. According to news reports, the man that the 25-year-old is accused of shooting in June has died.

According to police, the Avondale man allegedly went to his former girlfriend's house and asked to have they keys to her car. When she refused, he allegedly assaulted her. Soon after, the woman's brother showed up and the two allegedly had a confrontation outside the home. Police say the brother was shot in the neck, allegedly by the Avondale man. Although the man who was shot was seemingly improving and was transferred to a nursing home, he eventually died.

The 25-year-old man's trial started this week. On Monday, proceedings began and on Tuesday, according to a news report, "the trial broke for the day with a witness on the stand." That is the same night that officials say the woman's brother died. Although court resumed on Wednesday, the man's attorney and the state prosecutor delayed the trial until the next day in order to review the new situation. Eventually, a mistrial was granted on Thursday.

The next step in this man's trial is for authorities to perform an autopsy on the body of the deceased man. This evidence is extremely crucial because it will clarify whether the man died from his injuries or from something else. It is possible that something else caused his death, because according to reports, the injured man had been hospitalized for infections on several occasions.

According to a news report, if the man's death is found to be caused by the shooting, the state prosecutor will seek murder charges. Otherwise, the charges will remain the same. The harsher charge could put the 25-year-old in jail for life, while the lesser charge has a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Source: Cincinatti.com, "Mistrial declared after shooting victim dies," Kimball Perry, Dec. 2, 2011