A Glendale Heights father who is charged with setting his two young sons on fire in the bathroom of their home last year may be willing to plead guilty if prosecutors agree to a life sentence, according to news reports.

Kaushik Patel, 34, appeared Thursday morning in DuPage County court before Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell. Patel faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his 4-year-old son, Om, and 7-year-old son, Vishv.

Prosecutors announced last month that they are seeking the death penalty for Patel. State’s Attorney Joe Birkett would have to sign off on taking the death penalty off the table.

Patel, who is in custody at the DuPage County Jail, is scheduled to return to court Sept. 11.
Assistant state’s attorney Liam Brennan declined to comment on a possible plea agreement, saying that negotiations are in their preliminary stages.

Public defender Robert Miller, who is representing Patel, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Patel lured his sons into the bathroom of their Glendale Heights home Nov. 18 before dousing them with gasoline and setting them and himself on fire, authorities said. The children’s mother was not home at the time.

After the fire, Patel drove the two boys to his brother’s home in Hanover Park, about five miles away, authorities said. His brother called police.

Om died Jan. 17 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, and Vishv died Feb. 19 at the same hospital.

Although there is a 5-year-old moratorium on capital punishment in Illinois, DuPage prosecutors continue to pursue the death penalty in some cases. States Birkett is a proponent of capital punishment and has urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to end the freeze that was instituted by then-Gov. George Ryan in 2003.