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

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.

Madplume’s attorney said that testimony painting Madplume as a sexual predator and victim Laurence 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 in the appeal.

During Madplume’s trial, prosecutors included testimony from another male relative who testified that several days before Kenmille, 28, died at Wild Horse Hot Springs, Madplume had tried to sexually assault him at the same establishment.

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

Prosecutors claimed it was no coincidence that Kenmille was killed at Wild Horse with physical injuries consistent with rape.

After a six-day trial, a jury convicted Madplume of deliberate homicide and 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.

Wright 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.

“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.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.