photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Rodney Marshall, left, clasps his hands as the jury in his double-murder trial leaves the courtroom of Judge Amy Hanley to resume deliberations on Monday, May 18, 2026. To his right are defense attorneys Jennifer Amyx and Branden Bell. Deputy District Attorney David Melton is at far right.

Updated at 6:04 p.m. Monday, May 18

Douglas County jurors on Monday found a 55-year-old Lawrence man guilty of nine felonies, including two counts of first-degree murder, related to a crime spree in the summer of 2022.

The defendant, Rodney Marshall, was also found guilty of four counts of attempted intentional second-degree murder, rather than the three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder he was originally charged with. The jury also found him guilty as charged on two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of felony fleeing and eluding.

Judge Amy Hanley scheduled Marshall to be sentenced on Aug. 13.

On Monday morning Marshall clasped his hands, seemingly in prayer, as jurors left his presence and resumed their second day of deliberations in his trial in Douglas County District Court. They had deliberated for about four hours on Friday and met for another five hours on Monday before reaching their verdicts. As they filed into the courtroom for the final time, they appeared to avoid looking at Marshall, who sat with defense attorneys Jennifer Amyx and Branden Bell. Marshall showed little expression as Hanley read the guilty verdicts one by one.

photo by: Contributed

Shelby McCoy was shot to death on July 31, 2022.

photo by: Contributed

William D. O’Brien was shot to death on July 31, 2022.

Marshall was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Shelby McCoy, 52, at 1115 Tennessee St., then riding across town on a scooter — in disguise — and killing William D. O’Brien, 43, at 325 Northwood Lane.

McCoy’s family, in a text to the Journal-World, said Monday evening that they were happy with the verdicts: “Very pleased. Hallelujah,” they wrote, adding that Marshall was lucky that this was not a death penalty case.

After the July 31, 2022, shootings, police staked out Marshall’s residence in central Lawrence, from where he led multiple officers on a chase while firing a pistol out of his truck window. He was eventually arrested on Kansas Highway 10 near Eudora in a dramatic showdown involving around two dozen police vehicles in the middle of the highway.

photo by: Lawrence Police Department UAV Drone Image

The Lawrence Police Department on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022, showed video of a suspect in a July 2022 double homicide being arrested.

He confessed to the crimes soon afterward — a videotaped confession that his attorneys fought unsuccessfully to keep jurors from hearing.

The jury of seven women and five men, plus four alternates, began hearing evidence on May 7 and listened to closing arguments on Friday, May 15.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Douglas County Deputy District Attorney David Melton delivers his closing argument Friday, May 15, 2026, in the double-murder trial of Rodney Marshall.

The state, represented by prosecutors David Melton and Eve Kemple, characterized Marshall’s actions that summer four years ago as cold-blooded premeditated killings to which Marshall proudly admitted, claiming at first that he believed the men to be child molesters who deserved their fate and later claiming other motives such as self-defense. Neither man was ever suspected of sex crimes against children, police have said.

The defense characterized Marshall as a longtime hard-core drug addict who was in the throes of a delusional PCP trip both at the time of the shootings and during the confession. They had hoped to persuade the jury that Marshall was guilty, at worst, only of some form of manslaughter due to drug intoxication. Marshall did not testify in his own defense, and Judge Hanley did not allow the jury to hear a doctor’s testimony that his behavior was consistent with PCP use, finding the testimony inadmissible under multiple rules of evidence.

As the Journal-World has reported, Marshall’s trial was plagued by numerous delays and was scheduled and rescheduled several times — mostly because of conflicts between Marshall and his various court-appointed attorneys, including two attorneys with whom he allegedly instigated a physical confrontation.

Marshall has been held on a bond of $1.5 million since his arrest nearly four years ago. On Monday, Judge Hanley revoked that bond, and, barring a successful appeal, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

When asked about the verdict on Monday afternoon, District Attorney Dakota Loomis declined to comment to the Journal-World.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Rodney Marshall, center, is pictured at his murder trial on Monday, May 18, 2026, in Douglas County District Court. At left is defense attorney Branden Bell. Defense attorney Jennifer Amyx is walking behind Marshall.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Rodney Marshall is pictured at his murder trial on Monday, May 18, 2026, in Douglas County District Court.