Attorneys for two Aurora police officers facing homicide charges for the death of Elijah McClain want their July trial pushed back, saying they need more time to review the volume of evidence produced.

And lawyers for one officer have asked the judge to take another look at their request to require prosecutors lay out the specific actions they allege led to McClain’s injuries and make up the criminal charges, known as a bill of particulars.

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Prosecutors from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and defense attorneys tussled over the requests in a hearing Friday in Adams County District Court. Lawyers for the two officers, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt, say they need more time to review the mounting trove of evidence gathered by prosecutors, while prosecutors slammed the defense attorneys with an accusation of continuously using that as a reason to delay the case several times.

McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died in a hospital in August 2019 days after three police officers forcibly restrained him, put him in a control neck hold and paramedics called to the scene injected him with the sedative ketamine. Officers had responded to a call reporting a person acting suspiciously as McClain walked home from a convenience store after buying iced tea, but he was not suspected of any crime. He wore a ski mask to keep warm because of anemia, according to relatives.

A statewide grand jury convened by Attorney General Phil Weiser indicted the two paramedics and three officers in late 2021: Peter Cichuniec, Jeremy Cooper, Nathan Woodyard, Roedema and Rosenblatt. The five face 32 counts altogether, including criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and second-degree assault causing serious charges. Cooper and Cichuniec also face a count each of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon – ketamine – and unlawfully administering the sedative without consent.

Adams County District Court Judge Priscilla Loew ruled last July the grand jury had found probable cause for the indictments. All five have pleaded not guilty.

Judge Mark Warner, who has taken over the case, ordered three separate trials. Rosenblatt and Roedema are currently scheduled to go to trial together starting July 11.

In Friday’s hearing on a cornucopia of motions, senior assistant attorney general Jason Slothouber said prosecutors bear the risk of delays to the start of trial because they increase the chances of witnesses moving away, dying or their memories fading. He said the defense attorneys were previously granted several months-long continuances to scheduled court dates because they’ve said they need more time to review evidence and accused them of using it as a tactic to serve their own interests by delaying a trial as long as possible.

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“These arguments that ‘We can’t possibly be ready for trial because there’s simply too much’ is not right,” Slothouber said.

But defense lawyers countered during the hearing that prosecutors have prevented them from developing an effective defense by not clearly articulating how they believe the officers’ alleged actions contributed to McClain’s injuries and death.

Arguing for Warner to reconsider a request by Roedema’s lawyers for a bill of particulars, Elkus & Sisson partner Donald Sisson said the indictment is too vague for the defense to understand the theory prosecutors plan to present at trial.

“A proper indictment explains the who, what, when, where, why and how of the alleged conduct,” he said, later adding, “It’s not clear. Are they saying there was a bad stop, and because there was a bad stop, any subsequent force is unlawful?”

Prosecutors pushed back by saying it’s up to a jury to decide whether the officer bears responsibility for McClain’s death.

The indictment accuses Roedema of putting his body weight on McClain to hold him down, despite McClain’s pleas that he could not breathe, and of “cranking” McClain’s shoulder in a bar hammer lock, a tactic to hold his arm behind his back. It also claims the struggle with police caused hypoxia, hypoxemia and metabolic acidosis: Low oxygen, low oxygen levels in the blood and too much acid in the blood.

The argument about the indictment’s vagueness echoes a filing by attorneys for Woodyard, the third police officer, when they requested a probable cause review by Loew of the charges against him. They wrote in March 2022 several medical experts testified to the grand jury that the actions of the police officers did not contribute to McClain’s death.

An autopsy report by Dr. Stephen Cina originally characterized McClain’s cause and manner of death undetermined. But an amended autopsy report, released last year after a group of news organizations sued the Adams County coroner for its disclosure, concluded McClain would have most likely survived if not for the administration of ketamine. It was determined to be too high for his body weight. However, Cina still found his manner of death undetermined, not a homicide.

Cina’s amended report adds he saw “no evidence that injuries inflicted by police contributed to death” because McClain was conscious, able to speak and responsive following the neck hold and removal of the officers’ body weight from him.

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Warner did not rule Friday on requests to push back the trial or reconsider the request for a bill of particulars. He instead set a status hearing for next Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Cooper and Cichuniec, the paramedics, are scheduled for an Aug. 7 trial. The trial for Woodyard has been set for Sept. 18.