INDIANAPOLIS — Lawyers representing the man accused of killing IMPD Ofc. Breann Leath are trying to prove jurors have a bias when they know the state is seeking the death penalty.
Elliahs Dorsey was back in court Friday morning for a pretrial conference. He's facing a death penalty trial but is seeking an insanity defense.
A death penalty jury expert from the Capital Jury Project testified that it's hard to find impartial death penalty jurors. That's why the defense wants the death penalty eliminated before Dorsey goes on trial.
Leath's parents were in court Friday. They spoke with 13News about the testimony they heard.
"We knew this was going to be a long, drawn-out, multiple-year initiation from start to finish. We knew that going in," said Leath's mother, Jennifer. "Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to sit through the nonsense to get through the end, and this is something we have to check the box off to prove our case, then we will do it."
Dorsey is accused of shooting through a door and killing Leath when she responded to a domestic violence call on April 9, 2020.
He is expected to go on trial next February.
Leath was a mother, a military veteran and a well-respected IMPD officer.
"She is the example of the type of officer we want on this department," IMPD Chief Randal Taylor said after Leath's death.
Leath served in the Indiana National Guard and was assigned to the 387th Military Police Company at Camp Atterbury from March 2014 to April 2017, honorably discharged as a specialist.