Attorneys schedule hearings in Conner death-penalty case

Attorneys in the capital murder case of a Columbus man accused of killing his girlfriend and infant son before setting their house afire have agreed on a court schedule for pretrial motions.

Brandon David Conner faces the death penalty if convicted in the Aug. 21, 2014, deaths of 32-year-old girlfriend Rosella "Mandy" Mitchell and their 6-month-old son Dylan Conner, whose charred bodies were found in their burned 1324 Winifred Lane home.

Conner is represented by Columbus attorneys Mark Shelnutt and William Kendrick, who said they expect to file 20 to 30 pretrial motions, which would take about a week to address in a hearing.

The defense attorneys said they'd like at least 60 days to file those motions, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly said the prosecution would like the same span of time to file a response. Kelly will prosecute Conner along with District Attorney Julia Slater.

After hearing from the attorneys, Superior Court Judge William Rumer set this schedule:

The defense must file its motions by Oct. 9.

The prosecution must respond by Dec. 11.

A "status conference" to work out the order in which the motions will be heard will be 1:30 p.m. Dec. 16.

The first hearing to argue motions will be the week of Jan. 25-29, 2016.

The second hearing will be Feb. 15-19, 2016.

Conner's April 14 indictment alleges he stabbed Mitchell in the throat and torso with a knife that had a blade longer than 3 inches.

His malice murder charges allege he deliberately killed his girlfriend and child, and his felony murder counts accuse him of killing the mother and infant while committing the felony offense of aggravated assault. The indictment does not specify how the child was killed.

Firefighters found the two face-down in a back bedroom of the house after extinguishing the fire around 12:30 a.m.

Winifred Lane is in south Columbus, off Amber Drive north of Buena Vista Road.

Within an hour of the fire, a police officer confronted Conner at Cedar Avenue and Wynnton Road in Midtown after watching him sit immobile in his 2001 BMW for about 10 minutes. Authorities said the officer found Conner to be sweating and nervous, with blood on him.

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found more bloodstained clothes and a large serrated knife in the car, they said.

This is the second case in which Slater, first elected in 2008, has sought the death penalty. The first was the fatal shooting of Heath Jackson during a burglary at his Carter Avenue home on Sept. 7, 2010.

In May 2013, defendant Ricardo Strozier pleaded guilty to Jackson's homicide and a string of related crimes. Judge Gil McBride sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

This story was originally published August 9, 2015 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Attorneys schedule hearings in Conner death-penalty case ."