FAYETTEVILLE -- Lawyers for a Springdale man charged with fatally stabbing his mother and stepfather last year filed a flurry of motions Thursday, most attacking the constitutionality of the Arkansas capital murder statute and the death penalty.
Dustin Glenn Price, 28, is charged with two counts of capital murder, first-degree battery, residential burglary and terroristic threatening of a police officer, all felonies. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault. Price is being held at the Washington County jail without bail. He has pleaded innocent.
Prosecutors haven't said whether they intend to seek the death penalty.
The motions, filed by Price's attorney, Katherine Streett, are standard fare in capital cases and are routinely denied. Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay is hearing the case.
Among them are motions to quash the felony information against Price insofar as it purports to provide a basis for the death penalty and because it unconstitutionally overlaps the state's first-degree murder statute. There's also a motion to quash that argues the death penalty is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
Other motions seek to prevent covert or overt attempts to elicit information, evidence or statements from Price by placing him in cells with informants or other means. Another motion asks that a heightened standard of review and care be used in the case because of the state not having waived the death penalty.
Price broke into his mother's home at 2306 Sandy St. about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 26, according to a news release from Springdale police. His mother, Theresa Hendershot, called 911 and said her son stabbed her husband, Jim. Police found the two on the floor, unresponsive with stab wounds and blunt force trauma injuries.
Police said Theresa Hendershot, 47, died at her home. James Hendershot, 47, died at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.
Officers found a small knife and aluminum bat, both covered in what appeared to be blood, according to an arrest report.
Police said that after stabbing his parents, Price went to a boardinghouse at 902 Caudle Ave., where he stabbed and injured 52-year-old Daniel Teyhen.
Price was found later in the day riding a moped in Fayetteville and arrested without incident.
Price has a history of substance abuse and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2012.
Metro on 04/28/2017