HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. — A Hamilton County judge is deciding whether or not possible DNA evidence will be tested in the investigation into a man accused of killing his ex-wife.

Joshua Farmer is facing charges of murder, stalking and multiple counts of criminal recklessness for the June 28 shooting of Kaylah Farmer.

Court documents say Joshua pulled up next to Kaylah’s car at a Speedway gas station near 116th St and Allisonville Rd on June 28, firing his gun into Kaylah’s car multiple times. Kaylah was found dead in the front seat of her car. An autopsy revealed Kaylah was shot 15 times.

This was not the first instance of violence Joshua is accused of. According to a report, Joshua was accused of punching and choking Kaylah in front of their children on May 21. He is also accused of pointing a gun at her and their oldest child.

On Tuesday, Joshua appeared in Superior Court in Hamilton County for an initial hearing. He has been in the Hamilton County Jail with no bond since he was arrested on June 29.

Also in the courtroom were three family members of Kaylah, all watched as Joshua came into the room and sat down next to his defense attorneys.

The first order of the hearing was going over an approved request made by the state to seek the death penalty.

”The request that they have made which has been granted in this matter is to amend the charging information to add a request for the death sentence,” said Hamilton County Judge David Najjar.

Next up on the docket, a request made by the state to test possible DNA evidence from the June 28 shooting scene.

Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Mark Livingston said this is an important element in the investigation.

“The state believes it is crucial the DNA be tested in order to identify a suspect and also eliminate suspects, as well,” said Livingston

Fishers Police Detective Jonathan Dossey testified police swabbed possible touch DNA evidence off of the bullet fragments at the gas station scene.

Livingston is asking the DNA evidence be tested at the Indiana State Police lab.

If it is, all the evidence would be used in the test.

“In other words, if we can’t test it all, we’re not going to test it at all,” Livingston said.

There is also no guarantee DNA would be recovered.

Joshua Farmer’s defense attorney, Joshua Moudy, argued the defense would not be able to do its own testing on the evidence then.

“I think it’s important, especially seeing as though the lab, in this case, is not even confident it will get a result,” Moudy said. “What’s the rush for the possibility of no result?”

Moudy said he is also concerned because the defense has not received all of the discovery, or evidence in the case, yet.

”So to consume all of this evidence before we even know what’s out there, I don’t think it’s proper at this point,” Moudy said.

Judge Najjar said he’s hoping to have a ruling on this by the end of the week.

As of right now, a final pretrial hearing is set for the end of October 26 and a jury trial is set to begin on November 8. These dates could change.