TIPTONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against a Tennessee man charged with killing the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found abandoned in a home’s front yard, authorities said Thursday.
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, appeared by a video feed from jail before a judge in Tiptonville, two days after he was arrested in the killings that set mostly rural areas of western Tennessee on edge.
District Attorney Danny Goodman told the judge that the state intends to seek the death penalty. Lake County General Sessions Judge Andrew T. Cook ordered Drummond held without bond because it is a capital case.
Drummond was sitting in a black and white striped jumpsuit. He told a judge he operated a business and he said he wants a speedy trial. The judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and granted him a court-appointed attorney, who did not immediately return a calls seeking comment Thursday.
The judge also arraigned Branden Powell, who authorities say was stopped in a vehicle with Drummond days before the shootings as they were attempting to deliver marijuana to the jail in Lake County. Powell did not enter a plea because he is trying to hire a lawyer, he said during his hearing.