KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Kenneth DeHart Jr. is scheduled to appear in Blount County Circuit Court before Judge Tammy Harrington on Wednesday, where prosecutors will pursue the death penalty in the killing of a sheriff's deputy. Blount County District Attorney General Ryan Desmond is seeking capital punishment if DeHart is convicted of murder at trial, which is scheduled for September.

DeHart is accused of murdering Blount County Deputy Greg McCowan and attempting to murder Deputy Shelby Eggers on Feb. 8, 2024. Eggers stopped DeHart on Sevierville Road that day after observing him cross the center line, conduct also captured on cruiser video.

After the stop, Eggers told DeHart she smelled marijuana in the Lexus he was driving. DeHart denied having marijuana in the vehicle and did not disclose that there was a handgun inside. DeHart is a convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms.

Eggers called for assistance, and McCowan drove to the scene. The deputies ordered DeHart to exit the Lexus, and he refused, stating he had done nothing wrong and objecting to a vehicle search. McCowan pointed a Taser at DeHart and fired it while the door was open, after which DeHart closed the door. McCowan fired the Taser again through the door opening, striking DeHart, and video footage shows him deploying the weapon a third time.

Officer bodycam and vehicle video footage show DeHart shooting from inside the Lexus as McCowan approached, McCowan collapsing, and Eggers being shot in the leg as she tried to back away. Eggers returned fire but did not hit DeHart, and she called for help after being shot. DeHart cursed the deputies as he drove away and contacted people to help him in the hours that followed. Police arrested him at a house in Knoxville several days later, on Feb. 13, 2024.

Defense attorneys Stephen Ross Johnson and Rob Kurtz have filed a motion to suppress evidence collected after the night of the shooting, arguing that the initial traffic stop was unreasonably prolonged and that there was no probable cause to search the vehicle for marijuana. The motion also states that DeHart's Fourth Amendment rights were violated by excessive force when he was struck by a weapon capable of lethal harm. "The mental state of the accused at the time the accused allegedly decided to kill must be carefully considered in order to determine whether the accused was sufficiently free from excitement and passion as to be capable of premeditation," Johnson and Kurtz wrote.

Authorities allege the deputies did not search the Lexus because DeHart shot them and fled. The defense argues DeHart suffered injuries at the hands of deputies while being taken into custody, and photographs taken at the time of his Feb. 13, 2024, arrest show a patch of raw skin under his left eye. McCowan's name was read at the 37th Annual Candlelight vigil during National Police Week.