DELAND -- The Volusia County Grand Jury returned an Indictment earlier today against against Brian McLane that accuses him of first-degree murder, a capital felony, in relation to the death of his Edgewater roommate on June 3.
The defendant and the victim, 71-year-old Richard Carton, were roommates in a mobile home. The victim was found dead of asphyxiation and/or suffocation.
McLane's indictment paves the way for the office of State Attorney R.J. Larizza to consider whether it will seek the death penalty at trial. LaRizza's office does not comment until a decision has beenmade inhouse whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Edgewater cops arrested McLane four days after the suffocation death after he told investigators he smothered the elderly man with a blanket on the morning of June 3, according to a police report. He was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, but an indictment by the grand jury had to be a pre-requisite before the state has the option of whether to seek it at trial.
The two had been roommates a mere three months.