Death Penalty Sought For Suspect In Indianapolis Officer's Death

Updated Jan. 26 at 5:15 p.m.

RICK CALLAHAN  - Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man charged in the killing last year of a 24-year-old Indianapolis police officer who was fatally shot as she responded to a domestic violence call.

The Marion County Prosecutor's office filed the request Tuesday asking for the death penalty against Elliahs Dorsey, who is charged in the April 9, 2020, killing of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Breann Leath.

Leath and three other officers were responding to a domestic violence call involving Dorsey when she was shot to death through the door of an Indianapolis apartment, police said.

Dorsey, 28, faces one count each of murder and criminal confinement, and four counts of attempted murder, one of which stems from his alleged shooting of a woman he had confined inside the apartment, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Dorsey's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin Feb. 1.

In death penalty requests, prosecutors must show there was an aggravating circumstance. In this instance, they said Dorsey killed Leath while she “was acting in the course of duty as a law enforcement officer.”

A telephone message was left Tuesday with the Marion County Public Defender Agency seeking comment from Dorsey's court-appointed attorney.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday in a statement that Leath was a “dedicated public servant, and set an example that we all strive to live up to every day."

“She was committed to her community and giving back. She was committed to helping victims of domestic violence. She was committed to running towards danger when others would run away. She was committed to helping her fellow man, woman, and child," it said.

Leath's funeral was held April 16, 2020, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in adherence with pandemic social-distancing rules. Relatives, officers, Gov. Eric Holcomb and others who spoke during the service remembered Leath as a dedicated, compassionate officer and the devoted mother of a young son.

An estimated 1,000 cars from Indianapolis police and other police agencies lined the speedway’s oval for the service as those officers watched a livestream of the service on cellphones and laptops.

Correction: This story has been corrected to show Dorsey is 28, not 27.