A judge’s ruling Tuesday brought a mentally retarded Lawrence man one step closer to standing trial on charges that he murdered his elderly father by neglect.

Douglas County District Court Judge Michael Malone denied a motion by defense attorneys to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against Timothy D. Harrell, 44, an apartment maintenance worker and window washer. He’s charged with killing his father, 84-year-old Henry F. Harrell, who died in November 2002 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital of complications from infected bed sores and pneumonia.

Malone said it’s up to jurors, not him, to decide whether Harrell’s actions before the death of his father fit the definition of the state’s “depraved heart” murder statute.

To convict Harrell of murder, prosecutors must prove that he showed “extreme indifference” for the value of human life. Harrell’s attorneys had argued in their motion to dismiss that the charge can’t apply to this case because he has a limited mental ability and because he tried to take care of his father in some ways, for example, by putting over-the-counter ointment on his sores.

Malone also ruled Tuesday that Harrell’s statements to Lawrence Police could be used in court, and he complimented the department on its handling of the interview. Officers read Harrell his Miranda rights even though he wasn’t in custody and was free to leave, Malone said, factors that led him to find the statements weren’t illegally coerced.

“This court applauds law enforcement in giving Miranda even though an individual is not in custody,” he said.

Malone also:

• Denied a defense motion to suppress evidence from search warrants served on Harrell’s home and at medical offices.

Second expert opinion allowed in trial of murder by neglect (2-18-04) Expert: Murder defendant mentally retarded (1-23-04) Charges in elder abuse case may set precedent (12-29-03)

• Granted a defense motion to try marijuana-possession and drug-tax charges against Harrell separately from the elder-abuse charge.
• Granted a defense motion to prohibit jurors from seeing any photos of Henry Harrell after his wounds had been treated at the hospital. The treatment opened the wounds and made them wider than they would have appeared to Timothy Harrell prior to his father’s admittance to the hospital.

Harrell’s trial is set to begin March 29.