DANVILLE, Va. – Danville's commonwealth attorney intends to seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing two people.
Dana Keith is facing nine charges, including capital murder of two or more people, for shooting and killing Breia Edmunds and Damarcus Whitehead in a car last June.
On Friday morning, a judge heard two motions filed by Keith's attorneys.
The first motion was a request to have a special psychologist appointed as part of Keith's defense.
The request was approved.
Keith's attorneys also wanted the commonwealth attorney to clarify why he plans to seek the death penalty if Keith is convicted.
The judge delayed ruling on the motion because the commonwealth attorney said he was in the process of submitting a written clarification to the court.
Keith's attorneys had originally also filed a third motion, challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty in this case, but the attorney who made the motion told the judge he wanted to argue the constitutionality at a later date.
A trial date for Keith's case was scheduled to be set in February, but the case was continued until the April docket call.
With both the commonwealth attorney and Keith's attorneys being present in the courtroom Friday, however, the judge discussed the issue of scheduling a trial date.
Both the commonwealth attorney and Keith's attorneys agreed that because the case against Pierre Dixon, a Danville man charged with capital murder for a 2013 shooting death, may go to trial later this year the earliest Keith's case could realistically go to trial would be in 2019.
For that reason, both sides agreed to reschedule the setting of a trial date until docket call on April 30, 2019.