A man who’s charged in the deadly hit-and-run of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp in 2022 appeared in court on Thursday as the case that’s captivated people in the tight-knit communities of Ocean City and Ocean Pines headed closer to trial.

More than one year after he threw out the charges, Circuit Judge Brett W. Wilson was scheduled to hear a number of motions from Tyler Mailloux, including a request to move his case out of Worcester County over what his attorney had described as a “firestorm of publicity and vitriol.”

Instead, after a lengthy recess, Mailloux’s attorney, George Psoras Jr., and Assistant State’s Attorneys Pamela Correa and Michael Farlow, largely agreed to return to court on Dec. 5 for further scheduling.

Mailloux, 24, of Berlin, is charged with 17 counts in the hit-and-run, which happened before 10:45 p.m. on July 11, 2022, on Grays Corner Road near Riddle Lane. His trial is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2025, according to court records.

Gavin had asked his older sister, Summer, to pull over to take a video of a taxidermied buck head that was on the the side of the road. He was fatally struck while walking back to her car.

Law enforcement alleges that Mailloux left the scene of the crash and kept the 2011 Mercedes-Benz C300 that he was driving in a garage.

Restaurants and stores displayed signs that demanded justice. Neighbors urged law enforcement to file charges, rented billboards and handed out bracelets and stickers to draw attention to the case.

A Facebook group called Do It For Gavin - Justice for Gavin has more than 23,000 members.

In 2023, Wilson granted a motion to a dismiss, ruling that the state’s attorney had filed the case in the wrong court.

But the Appellate Court of Maryland overturned that decision and reinstated the charges. The Maryland Supreme Court then refused to hear an appeal.

Mailloux has remained free while he awaits trial.