photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Rodney E. Marshall appears at a hearing on March 21, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

Attorneys for a Lawrence man accused of killing two people are again asking a judge to delay his trial, and the judge is set to make the ruling less than a week before the trial’s scheduled start date.

The motion from Cline Boone and Matthew Cohen, the attorneys for 54-year-old Rodney Marshall, is the latest in a series of requests to postpone the trial, which is set to begin on March 31. Marshall is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and numerous other crimes in connection with the shooting deaths of Shelby McCoy, 52, and William D. O’Brien, 43, on July 31, 2022.

In January, Judge Amy Hanley granted a continuance in the case to allow the defense time to obtain the medical records of one of the victims. Then, on March 4, she denied another request for a continuance, which the attorneys were seeking so they could find an expert to review the records and generate a report.

Boone and Cohen asked again on Friday for a delay and said that they had found an expert, but the expert wouldn’t be able to review the records until after the trial had already begun. They said that meant that if the expert’s opinion had any bearing on the case, they wouldn’t be able to reference that opinion during their opening statement.

Hanley said the attorneys’ request was only put on file at 7 a.m. Friday, and that she would need more time to make a ruling. She said she would rule on March 26, just five days before the trial is set to begin.

Hanley asked what the expert would testify to that could affect the defense’s strategy. Cohen said the expert would be examining records of McCoy’s gunshot wounds, and the defense needed to know whether the expert’s opinion would support the idea that Marshall acted in self-defense. He said that without the expert weighing in, he couldn’t be sure, and he wanted to ensure that his argument was consistent throughout the trial.

Hanley said she would be considering numerous factors to decide if a delay was warranted. She said Boone and Cohen had had plenty of time to prepare for the trial, 21 months, and that the case had been pending for nearly three years, with Marshall in custody all of that time. She said the calendars of the attorneys, the court, officers and witnesses were also a factor, as it was difficult to find two full weeks when all of the relevant parties were available.

At the previous hearing in the case, Cohen said that if the continuance they were seeking then was denied, he and Boone would file a motion to withdraw from the case. No such motion was discussed at Friday’s hearing.