photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Rodney Marshall appears at a hearing on March 26, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A three-week double homicide trial has been continued just five days before it was set to begin, and now won’t take place for another six months after the defense failed to secure a medical expert in time.

The trial for Rodney Ericson Marshall, 54, of Lawrence, was first delayed in January after his defense attorneys, Cline Boone and Matthew Cohen, had yet to receive medical documents related to one of Marshall’s alleged victims, as the Journal-World reported.

Marshall is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and numerous other crimes in connection with the shooting deaths of Shelby McCoy, 52, at 1115 Tennessee St. and William D. O’Brien, 43, at 325 Northwood Lane on July 31, 2022, and the police chase that followed. Marshall is currently in custody at the Douglas County Jail and is being held on a $1.5 million bond.

Cohen asked the court again on March 4 to delay the March 31 trial and said that the defense had received the medical records but had not secured an expert. Judge Amy Hanley denied the request because the only reason the attorney gave for the delay was that the defense was not ready, as the Journal-World reported.

On March 21, Cohen asked again, but then had secured an expert to review the medical files. He said the expert wouldn’t be able to produce a report until the trial was underway and he needed the report to formulate his defense of Marshall. He said the medical reports may show that Marshall acted in self-defense when shooting McCoy. On Wednesday, Hanley granted the attorney’s request.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Rodney Marshall, from left, and his attorneys, Matt Cohen and Cline Boone, are pictured at a hearing on March 26, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

Hanley said the attorney’s failure to secure the expert in time, or to keep the court adequately informed of possible delays was frustrating. She said that an expert should have been contacted the day that the attorneys received the medical reports, Feb. 25, but that an expert wasn’t committed to the case until March 11 or 12, two weeks later.

“While I am frustrated, that is not where my legal standard lies,” Hanley said.

She said delay could have been avoided, but at this point the report won’t be available until well into the trial and Cohen has expressed how it would prejudice Marshall without more time. Hanley said that beyond prejudice to the defendant, prejudice to prosecutors was also possible as the report may have an effect on the state’s case.

“This matter needs to be prioritized by all,” Hanley said.

Hanley rescheduled the trial for Sept. 15 and set a series of hard deadlines between then and now for expert notifications and any additional issues or motions that may arise. She said if any of the deadlines are missed, she will require the attorneys to submit a report no later than the next business day explaining why the deadline was missed.

Family members of Marshall’s alleged victim’s who have attended nearly every hearing for the last three years looked dismayed Wednesday. Hanley said she understood that the delay was a disruption to the lives of many beyond the attorneys and court staff involved.

“I am sorry for that,” Hanley said.

Hanley said 120 possible jurors would be called for the trial with 16 jurors being selected, including four alternates.

Douglas County Clerk Doug Hamilton told the Journal-World in an email after the January delay that 500 jury summonses were mailed in November 2024 and jurors had a month to complete the questionnaire. He said about 25% of those were qualified for the case, or about 125.

Hamilton said that was rare and that only seven times has the court had to call more than 100 since 2012. For high-level cases the average number who are called to participate in jury selection ahead of trial is 84, he said.

“Cases with high severity level charges tend to result in longer trials. Longer trials often create greater challenges for potential jurors in being available to sit that long and increase the likelihood that a juror may need to be replaced during the trial,” Hamilton said.

Lawrence Police released a video of the police chase shortly after Marshall’s arrest.