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A motion to dismiss prosecution's life without parole request for David Charles Reed was filed recently in Kosciuko Circuit Court.
Reed is set to go to trial April 26 on two counts of murder for the deaths of his sons, Austin, 4, and Justin, 1.
The boys died in a 1998 house fire at 9816 Majestic Way in Marineland Gardens on the south side of Lake Wawasee. The fire originally was ruled accidental.
Further investigation by the Indiana State Police and fire marshals resulted in the fire being ruled arson. A grand jury was impaneled and Reed was indicted on murder charges in 2002.
Reed's attorneys, J. Brad Voelz and Anthony S. Churchward, contend in a memorandum that the life without parole request is unconstitutional.
Several United States Supreme Court cases and Indiana Supreme Court cases were cited to show that the jury should be allowed to determine the appropriate sentence.
A court case cited in the memorandum. Ring v. Arizona, says, "Capital defendants, no less than non-capital defendants, are entitled to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment."
Factors that made Reed eligible for a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty, if convicted, included the fact that the deaths occurred during an alleged act of arson and that both victims were under age 12.
Reed's trial is scheduled for Kosciusko County Circuit Court with Judge Rex Reed presiding. It is anticipated to last two weeks. Special prosecutor Michael A. Christofeno, Elkhart County, will handle the state's case.
