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Jason Davidson changed his plea from "not guilty by reason of insanity" to "not guilty."
Davidson's attorneys, Mike Miner, of Warsaw, and Dennis Hartley, of Colorado Springs, Colo., filed the change of plea Thursday afternoon.
Davidson, 33, of Warsaw, is on trial for murder in connection with the May 2002 shooting death of Samuel Creekmore, 30.
Creekmore was shot five times while in the living room of the home in Warsaw where he lived with his wife, Alicia.
Alicia is Davidson's ex-wife.
Davidson's attorneys are pursuing a defense built around intoxication of drugs and drug interactions. They claim the drugs, along with lesions on Davidson's brain caused by earlier injuries, combined to render Davidson incapable of making rational decisions.
The change of plea prompted a proscution motion today seeking to deny the defense the opportunity to call witnesses to testify about Davidson's mental state.
The prosecution reasoned that since the insanity defense was withdrawn, testimony and evidence regarding Davidson's mental state was irrelevant.
Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed denied the prosecution motion, allowing the jury to hear testimony about Davidson's state of mind.
A second prosecution motion sought to disallow testimony from an expert witness scheduled to take the stand Monday.
The prosecution noted that while the witness was licensed in his field in four states, he is not licensed in Indiana.
Reed delayed ruling on the second prosecution motion.
On Thursday, defense attorney Miner introduced the family and friends of Jason Davidson as character witnesses.
The defense worked to build a case of Davidson's mental illness, as Ken and Carolyn Davidson, Jason Davidson's parents, took the stand.
Both Ken and Carolyn testified to the fact that Davidson had been a sweet, caring nonviolent boy. His maternal grandfather, Malcolm Case, also testified to that fact, saying, "What has befallen him (Jason) is so out of character, it's difficult for me to understand."
The Davidson family witnesses also testified to Jason Davidson's alleged childhood compulsive habits.
Carolyn noted that Davidson had been an "immaculate" child who couldn't stand a speck of dirt on his clothing or hands or a thing out of place in his bedroom. She also noted that he had a keen sense of smell, sometimes complaining of odors no one else could detect.
Davidson also suffered from frequent headaches, Carolyn said.
Ken's testimony regarding Davidson's childhood demeanor and habits matched his wife's. According to Ken, as a child Davidson also had a fascination with lights and motors. Once Davidson had a washing machine motor that he would just sit and watch run, Ken said.
Ken added that even now, as an adult, Davidson is still immaculately organized and owns many duplicates of things.
Ken said that as he removed things from his son's home after Davidson's arrest in May 2002, Ken was struck by the organization of his home and the number of duplicate pairs of shoes and other clothing in his closet.
Following the Davidson family testimony, Miner introduced defense exhibits - photographs of Davidson's home as it was left the night of May 2.
In the pictures one sees a sterile-looking bedroom, furnished in all white wood, with a blue and white striped blanket. On a night stand next to the bed, a bottle of prescription pills is evident. The covers on the bed are turned down, as if someone had just climbed out, and a pair of men's pajamas is laying on the floor.
According to Ken, his son would have never in his right mind left his room like that. Ken said that since Davidson was a small boy, he had always made his bed and could not stand dirty clothes on the floor.
The Davidson family also testifed that Jason had plans to move to Florida mid-June, was working to buy a franchise of a publishing company and that he would be the advertisement salesman.
