GLASGOW — With a trial scheduled to begin next month in a case involving the death of a 19-month-old boy, a judge granted a request from the defense to direct an expert prosecution witness provide the research she relied upon to support her finding that the child had been assaulted.

Devin Pierce, 25, of Scottsville, and Serenity S. Brown, 22, of Glasgow, are both charged with murder in connection with the death of Tristen Stinson.

Barren County Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner alleges that Tristen was in the care of Pierce and Brown on March 27, 2021, when he suffered injuries that led to his death.

Court records indicate that the prosecution is basing its theory that the death was a homicide in part on the findings of Dr. Melissa Currie, medical director of Norton’s Children’s Pediatric Protection Specialists and chief of the Kosair for Kids Division of Pediatric Medicine.

According to prior court filings, Currie’s review of available records in the case led her to form the opinion that the child’s injuries were the result of an assault rather than an accidental fall.

Pierce’s attorney, David Broderick, requested an evidentiary hearing last year to exclude Currie’s testimony, saying in a motion that Gardner’s disclosure of Currie’s anticipated testimony does not make any specific references to tests, journals, studies or publications on which she based her opinion about the manner of the child’s death.

Gardner filed a summary on Feb. 12 from Currie about how she reached her conclusions about the death, and which included a list of eight articles of medical literature upon which she relied for her findings.

In a pretrial conference Monday in Barren Circuit Court, Broderick asked the court to direct Gardner’s office to supplement Currie’s disclosure with copies of the articles she relied upon to reach her conclusions.

Barren Circuit Judge John Alexander said that, while he believed that Currie and Gardner complied with his previous order to submit Currie’s summary of how she reached her findings, he would issue a supplementary order that Gardner supplement the disclosure with copies of any of the articles Currie listed in her summary.

“The thing I don’t want to do is cause any delays in having this trial,” Alexander said in court.

The Barren County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death after being called March 27, 2021, to a residence on North Lucas Road regarding an unresponsive 19-month-old boy.

Tristen was taken to T.J. Samson Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to the sheriff’s office, detectives noted suspicious bruising on the child’s head, so an autopsy was performed by the Kentucky Office of the State Medical Examiner in Louisville.

“The results of the autopsy determined the child died from blunt impact injuries of the head, and the manner of death was ruled homicide,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.

Indictments against Pierece and Brown accuse them of wantonly engaging in conduct that created a grave risk of death to the child, therefore causing his death.

Broderick filed paperwork in the case regarding his intent to call Dr. John Hunsaker, a retired state medical examiner, as an expert witness.

According to Broderick’s filing, Hunsaker is anticipated to testify that the child’s injuries were more consistent with a short fall from a coffee table and that there was no proof to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the child’s injuries were the result of abuse.

Pierce and Brown have a jury trial set for March 18.

Two other people, Marty Brown and Jessica Brown, are charged with tampering with physical evidence in the case, and have pretrial conferences scheduled for April 14.