A Manvel, N.D., man convicted of the 2010 slaying of his brother will appear in Grand Forks District Court next week.
Rodney Ray Chisholm, 51, has a motion hearing scheduled Dec. 8 under his murder case, court records show.
Chisholm admitted to investigators that in June 2010 he hit his older brother, Donald Chisholm, with a metal pipe, tightened a hose clamp around his brother's neck and then buried him, though he contended at his 2011 trial he did it out of self-defense.
A Grand Forks County jury found him guilty of murder in 2011. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
A year ago Thursday, the North Dakota Supreme Court denied Chisholm’s appeal in the case, when his defense tried to argue for a lesser conviction such as manslaughter.
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Chisholm was transferred from the North Dakota State Penitentiary to the Grand Forks County Correctional Center on Thursday to attend his hearing, jail records show.
Kiara Kraus-Parr, a defense attorney retained by Chisholm, confirmed to the Herald she is representing him in next week’s hearing but declined to comment on Chisholm’s goal in the appeal.
According to court records, Chisholm made a request for discovery, a collection of all records and evidence used, in his case Jan. 26. After not receiving a response, Chisholm made an additional discovery request April 29. The State’s Attorney’s Office responded with a request for the discovery motion to be denied May 13.
According to motions filed in court, Chisholm wants access to his full case records to prepare for another appeal. He wrote that he has not seen a full discovery since his trial attorney Steve Light died in 2012.
Chisholm requested an attorney assist him in the matter in July, records show, and the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents filed a motion to dismiss that request. He was assigned council Aug. 5, records show.
The Dec. 8 hearing will aim to solve the discovery dispute.
