Convicted murderer asks for new trial

A Ronan man serving life without parole for killing raping and killing his cousin at Wild Horse Hot Springs in May 2013 has asked the Montana Supreme Court for new trial and for $35,000 in public defender’s fees to be reconsidered.

Melvin Madplume, 31, argued in a July 1 appeal that the fees were not fairly imposed and that testimony introduced at his trial that analyzed his sexual preferences was prejudicial.

At trial, prosecutors included testimony from another male relative who testified that days prior to the day Laurence Kenmille, 28, ended up dead at Wild Horse Hot Springs, Madplume had tried to sexually assault him at the same establishment.

“He wanted to rape me,” the cousin testified.

The cousin testified that Madplume tried to look at his amputated toes, made a pass at him and became angry and told him to drop his shorts. The cousin refused to comply and Madplume allegedly ran over the cousin’s foot as Madplume drove away.

Prosecutors claimed it was no coincidence that Kenmille was found dead days later at the same establishment with physical tearing that was consistent with rape.

A jury convicted Madplume after a six day trial of deliberate homicide and also determined as part of that conviction that he had raped Kenmille. Madplume was sentenced to life without parole and told to pay approximately $35,000 in public defenders fees after there was some speculation that he might receive some sort of “per capita” payments from the Native American tribe to which he belongs.

Madplume’s attorney said that testimony painting Madplume as a sexual predator and Kenmille as a straight man was unfair.

“The result was an improper and overly prejudicial emphasis on Madplume’s sexual character rather than focusing on the evidence of whether he sexually assaulted Kenmille and Kenmille drowned during the commission of the offense or flight thereafter,” public defender Chad Wright wrote.

Wright also pointed out in the appeal that Madplume will have little opportunity to make money during a lifetime in prison and argued that it was inappropriate to assess $35,000 in court costs and public defender fees when a presentence investigation found Madplume had student loan debt and few assets prior to incarceration.

“Montana Code Annotated provides that a court may not sentence a defendant to pay the costs for assigned counsel unless the defendant is or will be able to pay them,” Wright wrote.