The Madison County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday it will seek the death penalty for Juan Robert Laws, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Huntsville police officer Garrett Crumby.

District Attorney Rob Broussard confirmed to AL.com that the decision had been made to pursue the highest penalty for Laws, whose case was turned over to a grand jury Wednesday following a preliminary hearing.

Madison County District Judge Linda Coats made that ruling following the hearing, determining there was sufficient evidence for a grand jury to consider an indictment.

If convicted, Laws would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Crumby was shot and killed March 28 while responding to a call on Governors Way off Interstate 565. Laws was taken into custody less than two hours later at the scene.

Related: Huntsville police officer Garrett Crumby remembered as ‘somebody very, very special’

Related: AR-15 rifle used to kill Huntsville police officer

Police officer Albert Morin was also seriously wounded in the shooting but is recovering at home following a lengthy stay in the hospital.

During the hearing, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joshua Colquitt said Crumby sustained 10 wounds in the shooting, WHNT-Channel 19 reported, though it was not clear how many of the wounds were entry or exit wounds or shrapnel wounds.

Morin told investigators that Laws was wearing body armor when police encountered him at the scene. Morin said he shot Laws in the leg to avoid the body armor, WHNT reported. According to a SWAT report, Laws contacted several family members immediately after the shooting, saying he was bleeding and that he had shot two police officers, WHNT reported.

Bruce Gardner, one of Laws’ court-appointed attorneys, said he expected it would be at least a year before a grand jury heard the case.

“There wasn’t anything surprising today,” Gardner said following the hearing. “I just ask anybody who hears this to keep an open mind. I think in the final analysis, you’re probably going to see a young man for whom this act was way outside of his character.”

Crumby and Morin was responding to a “shots fired” call when the shooting occurred. After Morin knocked on the door, a woman could be heard screaming inside, Colquitt testified, according to WHNT. Morin then opened the door and shots were fired at the officers, Colquitt said.

The woman at the scene was Arionne Douglas, who was Laws’ girlfriend. She called 911 and reported that she had been shot, WHNT reported. She was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Larry Marsili, another of Laws’ court-appointed lawyers, said the objective in the case is a fair trial.

“I hope (defending a suspect charged with shooting a police officer) is not interpreted by the community as some sort of endorsement of bad conduct,” Marsili said. “That’s not the intention. Mr. Laws is a citizen and he is entitled to a fair trial. The law requires that he get a fair trial. And our job is to ensure that the entire process is as fair as it can be for him. I know that not only do we want Mr. Laws to have a fair trial, the state of Alabama wants Mr. Laws to have a fair trial. They they want to have a fair trial.”