A trial date has been set for a former Fort Carson soldier accused of killing his wife as his daughters watched.

At an arraignment hearing Monday, Dermot Blake, an Army radio expert previously assigned to Fort Carson, was scheduled to go to trial in June for the shooting death of his wife, Tashianna Blake, in their Colorado Springs home in February 2021.

Blake, 34, pleaded not guilty and was set to begin trial June 7. In addition to first-degree murder, he’s facing two charges of child abuse for putting his children, whom he allegedly told to watch as he shot their mother, in the line of fire.

Monday’s arraignment hearing was the second time the court had convened on Blake’s pleas in his case. In the previous hearing, on Dec. 17, Fourth Judicial District Judge Samuel Evig indicated the hearing that took place Monday would be the final one if there was no resolution.

Defense attorney Stephen Woodall announced Monday that no resolution had been reached in time. Prosecutor Kelson Castain added that negotiations had been held and would be kept open, but that neither side had made an offer.

Police allege that sometime around midnight on Feb. 20, Dermot and Tashianna Blake’s daughters were awakened by several loud shots, and the voice of their father ordering the girls to come out of their room, according to a statement made by his oldest daughter.

As the children watched, she told police, Blake shot Tashianna Blake in the head.

The children told police Blake shot their mother several more times before calling police, just before 1 a.m. Officers who responded to the home found Tashianna Blake, 30, dead with several gunshot wounds.

Dermot Blake, they said, was covered in blood, and police immediately put him in handcuffs. Officers found the two girls sitting in the living room of the home, as well as a semiautomatic pistol next to the front door.

The two girls, police said in a February statement, were taken in by family members after the shooting.

Blake, from Lawrenceville, Ga., is being held without bond in the El Paso County jail. At the time of the shooting, The Gazette previously reported, Blake had served as a radio expert in the Army for over four years.

Spokeswoman Brandy Gill said Monday that Blake is currently “not assigned” to Fort Carson.