Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a Garland County man arrested in 2015 in the shooting deaths of his wife and daughter, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported Tuesday.
Charges against 57-year-old Eric Allen Reid were upgraded to capital murder during a hearing Monday in Garland County Circuit Court, the newspaper reported, noting Reid then pleaded not guilty to the new counts. Reid had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to charges of first-degree murder.
Reid is accused of killing his wife, Laura J. Reid, 57, and his daughter, Mary Ann Reid, 32, on Oct. 20, 2015, at the family's home at 607 Northwood Trail north of Hot Springs.
A motion filed by prosecutors indicated Eric Allen Reid should be executed if convicted because he "knowingly created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim or caused the death of more than one person in the same criminal episode," according to the Sentinel-Record story.
Investigator Terry Threadgill in 2015 characterized it as "a family squabble that got way out of control."
Click here to read the full story in today's Sentinel-Record and read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.