The jury trial for a Great Bend man charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior has been postponed.

Austin James Levingston’s trial was to have begun this month but was rescheduled to take place March 2-6 in Barton County District Court. The court does not have a trial date set at this time, due to the request of his attorney, Donald E. Anderson II, who said several pretrial motions still need to be filed and they will require expert witnesses.

District Judge Carey Hipp will preside over the trial.

The charges were filed in 2018 after the Great Bend Police Department launched an investigation into a report of an alleged incident involving a young child in 2015.

Levingston was bound over for trial on the five charges in 2018. A sixth count, charging lewd and lascivious behavior, was dismissed by the court when it determined that the testimony did not support the charge.

The trial would have been held last May but was postponed until Levingston underwent a competency evaluation. A motion from Anderson at that time added that several pretrial motions would need to be filed that might require expert witnesses to be procured. Assistant County Attorney Douglas Matthews was notified and did not object.

This story from Feb. 19, 2020, was updated on Feb. 20 to correct dates.