Marlon Duane Kiser waits during a court recess during his 2003 trial at the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Courts Building, where he faced charges in the 2001 slaying of Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Deputy Donald Bond.A local man sentenced to die two years ago can hire new attorneys in his death penalty appeal.
Marlon Duane Kiser, 42, faces the death penalty for the Sept. 6, 2001, shooting death of Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Deputy Donald Bond.
Kiser was scheduled for execution in May 2010 but was granted a stay, pending the resolution of his post-conviction appeals.
On Monday, Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole granted Kiser's request to fire his appeal attorneys for the past three years -- Autumn Gentry, of Nashville, and Rick Haberman with the Michigan office of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The judge said in court that new attorneys would be appointed in coming weeks.
Prosecutor Neal Pinkston declined to comment on the ongoing case.
Kiser has disagreed with some claims in his appeal and could not resolve those disputes with his attorneys. Details of those disagreements are protected under attorney-client privilege.
Gentry and Haberman sought a competency evaluation for Kiser this summer after he said he wanted new attorneys. The results of the evaluation are sealed, but Poole ruled that Kiser is competent to continue with his appeal.
In court documents Kiser and his attorneys allege that he was set up by his roommate, Michael Chattin, whom Kiser says killed Bond because Chattin thought the deputy was seeing his estranged wife.
Kiser also claims his trial attorneys, public defenders Karla Gothard and Mary Ann Green, were ineffective because they did not put on mitigating evidence during the sentencing phase of his trial. But, according to court records, Kiser told the pair not to present a mitigation defense.
Kiser's attorneys have claimed he was not competent to make that decision during sentencing.
Contact staff writer Todd South at tsouth@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347.