A 21-year-old accused of shooting an 18-year-old to death at an East Brainerd party last spring returned to court for the first time Wednesday since attending a four-month Christian-oriented program in Florida.
Myles Stout, awaiting his trial for second-degree murder, made a brief appearance with his attorney, Hank Hill, before Judge Barry Steelman Wednesday morning. Steelman scheduled a final pretrial conference for Feb. 6, one month before the scheduled March 6 trial.
“It’s the last date for filing pretrial motions. It’s an opportunity to make sure that both sides have their witnesses ready and are prepared to go to trial on the trial date,” Hill said of the next court date.
Stout recently returned from a voluntary stay at a residential program called Disciples of Christ Ranch in Okeechobee, Fla. He traveled to the ranch in September.
“It was something he did for himself,” Hill said, “in an effort to deal with some of the issues he’s going through. He’s very remorseful about this.”
Police arrested Stout shortly after witnesses said he pointed a loaded .40-caliber handgun at Myles Compton and pulled the trigger, killing Compton almost instantly on March 9, 2011.
Friends of Compton and Stout testified in the preliminary hearing last March that Stout was “messing around” with the handgun inside a home at 9125 Stoney Mountain Drive.
Kevin Driscoll, who lived at the home, testified in the hearing that the gun was unloaded when he took it out of its safety box and he didn’t know who loaded it.
Stout was first charged with second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, reckless homicide, tampering with evidence and filing a false report.
Sessions Court Judge David Bales dismissed the tampering and false report charges after the preliminary hearing.
If convicted of second-degree murder, Stout could be sentenced to prison for 15 to 25 years.