Christopher Coleman, who might face a death sentence if convicted of killing his wife and two sons, is expected in court today to ask a judge to declare him indigent; Coleman says he is too poor to pay his legal fees.

Coleman, 32, lists his total debts and liabilities at $243,000, according to an affidavit filed Thursday in Monroe County Circuit Court in Waterloo.

In it, Coleman cites a $240,000 mortgage on his home in Columbia, Ill. — where his family was found slain May 5 — while it is now worth just $195,000.

If Judge Milton Wharton is satisfied with the claim after a hearing today, Coleman could tap the Illinois Capital Litigation Fund to pay the costs of his legal defense.

He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the strangulation of his wife, Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The fund, supported by tax dollars, was set up in 2000 after revelations that some innocent men had been sentenced to death in Illinois. It was designed to ensure that capital case defendants get access to qualified lawyers and investigators.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill overhauling the fund last month in response to a Post-Dispatch investigation, which found that the fund was being abused by some lawyers, private investigators and expert witnesses who charged steep fees just to drive, make copies or send e-mails.

The investigation also found that John Paul Carroll, a lawyer who sparked outrage from state legislators in 2005 for billing the state $2 million for a murder case defense, was assigned to a new death penalty case last year even though his law license was once suspended and he had recently admitted to making a serious legal error in another case. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee filed a complaint against him last month.

At the time of the murders, Coleman, who has pleaded not guilty, was security manager for televangelist Joyce Meyer. He resigned after the Post-Dispatch disclosed that he had been having an affair with a friend of Sheri Coleman's in Florida.

The ministry had paid Coleman $100,000 a year and gave him a $10,000 pay advance the day after the murders.

Coleman has retained Clayton lawyers Art and William Margulis, who are in the process of meeting Illinois standards that require certification of lawyers handling death penalty cases.