Morgan Freeman's Step-Granddaughter E'Dena Hines' Final Film Coming Out Soon -- as Alleged Killer Is Due in Court

E'Dena Hines, 33, was stabbed to death in August 2015 and her boyfriend has been charged in her death

E’Dena Hines, the slain budding actress and step-granddaughter of actor Morgan Freeman, will appear in her final film in June — as her ex-boyfriend is due in court this summer on murder charges in her 2015 death.

Lamar Davenport is expected to appear in court on Aug. 2, according to a spokesman with the New York County District Attorney’s Office — just months after Hines’ final film, Landing Up, premieres in Los Angeles and New York City.

Davenport’s trial date has not been scheduled.

Hines stars as the street-smart Cece in the film about two young homeless women. She completed the movie just days before she was found in the street outside her New York City home suffering multiple stab wounds to her torso.

She was pronounced dead later at Harlem Hospital.

Kevin Winter/Getty

“We saw her two days before she died,” Stacey Maltin, who produced the film and stars alongside Hines, told PEOPLE. “She came over to the studio asking to see some of the footage, but it wasn’t ready at that point. We had really just finished shooting it.”

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Davenport, Hines’ boyfriend, was charged with second-degree murder in the death and has pleaded not guilty, the spokesman confirmed to PEOPLE.

One witness told PEOPLE then that he saw Hines being attacked, and recalled hearing “screaming and the name ‘Lamar.’ ”

Landing Up Film

“I heard that same man saying, ‘In the name of Jesus Lord God, Demons, I command you.’ Or something like that,” witness George Hudacko said. “He thought he was doing an exorcism.”

Hines’ friend Tami Dunn told PEOPLE that she was shocked by the charges against Davenport because “he seemed to love [Hines].”

“There was nothing in her relationship with Lamar that indicated this type of trouble,” Dunn said. “At least, she didn’t tell her friends about it. He was quiet and not the most social person I had ever met, but he didn’t have any dark energy.”

Morgan Freeman’s Granddaughter E’Dena Hines Stabbed to Death: ‘Her Star Will Continue to Shine Bright in Our Hearts,’ says Freeman

Hines studied acting at New York University’s prestigious Graduate Acting Program, according to her website, and Dunn said the budding actress was “into having fun. Always making jokes, always smiling.”

Following her death, Freeman, 80, remembered his step-granddaughter in a statement to PEOPLE.

“The world will never know her artistry and talent, and how much she had to offer,” he said. “Her friends and family were fortunate enough to have known what she meant as a person.

“Her star will continue to shine bright in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. May she rest in peace.”

Landing Up will premiere at the Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles on June 7, and in New York City on June 17.