WACO, Texas – Former Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson entered a not guilty plea Wednesday after he appeared in a Waco, Texas, courtroom for the first time since he was accused of killing former teammate Patrick Dennehy.

Dressed in an orange jail uniform and wearing slippers, Dotson, 21, showed little emotion as he stood in front of District Judge George Allen. He was handcuffed, and a restraint was wrapped around his legs and waist.

Dotson, who was indicted Aug. 27 on a murder charge, was extradited to Texas on Tuesday from a Chestertown, Md., jail.

Asked if he had any money to pay for an attorney, Dotson replied that he is “trying to put some funds together” but that he currently has none.

Allen instructed Dotson to fill out a pauper’s oath and appointed Waco defense lawyers Russell Hunt and Abel Reyna to represent him. Hunt has 26 years experience as a defense lawyer. Reyna has been a lawyer for six years.

Dotson was not asked to enter a plea nor did his lawyers ask the judge to set a bail hearing. But his attorneys signed a waiver of arraignment and entered a not guilty plea after the hearing. No further hearings have been scheduled.

“We’re going to go through the discovery process; we’re really just at the beginning of learning about this case,” Hunt said.

While Hunt and Reyna were beginning to familiarize themselves with the case, Dotson’s Maryland-based lawyers were insisting Wednesday that they will remain on the case.

Sherwood Wescott, a Salisbury, Md., lawyer, said, “Oh yeah, unless Mr. Dotson says he wants somebody else, and I don’t anticipate that.”

Wescott said his office has retained a Dallas attorney and hired a Waco-based investigator.

Wescott said they will be filing paperwork requesting access to the prosecution’s evidence and that he assumes Allen appointed the two Waco attorneys because the Dallas-based lawyer has not filed any paperwork with the court.

Despite Wescott’s assertions, Dotson’s new lawyers were moving forward.

“The court has appointed us to represent Dotson, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Reyna said.

Hunt and Reyna said they wouldn’t rule out pursuing an insanity defense for Dotson, nor would they say if they would seek a change of venue.

John Segrest, a McLennan County prosecutor, said he wouldn’t speculate whether the high-profile case would be tried in Waco or moved to another venue.

He also declined to discuss whether his office is pursuing criminal charges in connection with tape recordings of former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss. The recordings revealed a plot to have players tell investigators that Dennehy was a drug dealer. The ruse was meant to explain how Dennehy’s tuition was paid at Baylor after he transferred from the University of New Mexico last spring.

Dotson confessed to FBI agents July 21, a day after he called authorities and said he needed to be taken to a hospital, an arrest warrant affidavit said.

Dennehy’s body was found July 25 in a field near some abandoned gravel pits. According to an autopsy report, he had been shot twice in the head.

The 6-foot-10 power forward was last seen June 12, the same day Dotson’s estranged wife, Melissa Kethley, said her husband was driving Dennehy’s Chevrolet Tahoe in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The vehicle was found June 25 in a Virginia Beach, Va., parking lot with its license plates removed. Virginia Beach is about 150 miles from Dotson’s hometown of Hurlock, Md.

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Staff writer Dave Montgomery contributed to this report.

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AP-NY-10-29-03 2158EST