MOULTRIE, Ga. — In a Friday hearing to discuss legal motions in a Colquitt County quintuple homicide, attorneys for the defendant sought to have a judge toss statements made to police.

It was the third court appearance for Jeffrey Alan Peacock in eight days and only the fourth since his arrest in May 2016. He is charged with five counts of murder.

Prosecutors say he shot Jonathan Garrett Edwards, Ramsey Jones Pidcock and Aaron Reid Williams, all 21; 20-year-old Alicia Brooke Norman; and Jordan Shane Croft, 22. The five were shot in the head before the house was set ablaze.

Peacock, who faces the death penalty if convicted, also has been indicted on charges of possession of a firearm during  the commission of a felony and three counts of aggravated cruelty to dogs — related to the deaths of three dogs found at the residence, two inside who died of burns and smoke inhalation and one outside who died of a fracture to the head.

On Aug. 16 Superior Court Judge James E. Hardy denied a defense request to throw out the indictment based on the makeup of the grand jury. The following day the judge ruled that evidence seized from Peacock’s truck and his father’s residence could be used at trial.

On Friday, one prosecution witness — Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Jason Seacrist — took the stand.

The agent answered questions about his seven-hour interview of Peacock on May 18, 2016, three days after the slayings at 505 Rossman Dairy Road. Peacock was arrested during that interview, conducted in an office at the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigation Division, and he has remained in jail since that time.

Seacrist said that Peacock emerged quickly as a suspect, partially based on voluntary statements he made at the burning residence the day of the slayings that did not match evidence uncovered during the investigation.

One of those statements was that he left the group watching a television program in the house while he went into Moultrie to get breakfast and cigarettes. Investigators learned that the program had not been viewed at the residence that morning.

Under questioning from Allan Sincox, one of two capital defenders representing Peacock, Seacrist explained some of the interview techniques and strategies used.

Prior to Aug. 23, Peacock had not been in a courtroom since May 2017 when his attorney made a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Hardy set a date of Oct. 9 to continue the hearing on the defense request to toss out Peacock’s statements. At that time the defense may present an expert witness hired to review the recording of Peacock’s interview.

The family member of Ramsey Jones Pidcock who is serving as their spokesperson said in an email that the family has nothing to say at this time about the case.