After Daniel Marsh’s defense attorney asked for more time to prepare a presentation regarding the murderer’s young age, Yolo Superior Court Judge David Reed said he would permit the defense to present witnesses and other evidence at the December proceeding, after which he plans to hand down Marsh’s sentence.
During a short hearing held in Judge Reed’s Woodland courtroom on November 12, Marsh’s defense team argued that Marsh’s maximum possible sentence, 52 years to life, violated his Eighth Amendment right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment. The sheer length of the potential sentence constituted “a de facto sentence of life without the possibility of parole.” Marsh, under the proposed sentence, would not be eligible for parole until he was in his 60s.
Yolo County prosecutors noted Marsh could be considered for parole after as few as 25 years, according to a youthful-offender provision of the state Penal Code. Marsh could also serve that amount of time only, if Judge Reed decided to make Marsh serve his sentences concurrently, rather than consecutively.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Cabral
“We don’t believe that is appropriate,” Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Cabral told reporters. Cabral also noted that the reason Marsh was even being considered for such a lenient sentence under California law was he was only 15 when he brutally tortured and stabbed to death Claudia Maupin, 76, and Oliver “Chip” Northup, 87, in their South Davis condo on April 14, 2013.
Marsh is “irreparably corrupt,” Cabral said. Therefore he and his prosecution team will argue hard to keep him in prison and off the streets for as long as possible.
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Davis Enterprise: Marsh sentencing postponed until December
