Posted on 03/03/2005 6:20:42 PM PST by Former Military Chick
FRESNO, Calif. (Reuters) - A Californian accused of killing nine of his children and grandchildren engaged in incest and polygamy and admired a deceased cult leader, prosecutors said at the start of his trial on Thursday.
Authorities allege Marcus Wesson, 58, fatally shot seven of his children and two of his grandchildren, aged 1 to 26, inside his Fresno, California, home a year ago. He fathered all victims through incest and polygamy with daughters and nieces.
The charges make Wesson eligible for the death penalty in the worst mass killing in Fresno in California's agriculture-rich Central Valley.
Defense lawyers told the jury that they had a digital audio recording of the events surrounding the killings. "He didn't shoot them," said Wesson's lawyer, Ralph Torres.
He told the jury the recording shows Wesson eagerly anticipating the police arrival to resolve an escalating domestic situation. The recording also has "blood-curdling screams" after family members discovered the dead, he said.
The bearded defendant, weighing noticeably less than his 380 pounds at the time of arrest, sat erect throughout the proceedings, his trademark thick gray dreadlocks loosely held in a ponytail that fell below his knees.
The prosecution alleges that the slayings followed a custody battle that ensued when two of Wesson's daughters, who had left years earlier, and approximately 10 other relatives arrived to remove the women's two children from the home.
Prosecutor Lisa Gamoian described Wesson's lifestyle of incest and polygamy and admiration for David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidian cult who was killed in a fiery 1993 confrontation with authorities in Texas.
She painted Wesson as a calm cult-like figure whose word was obeyed without question by the victims. He sometimes beat them with a stick or a baseball bat and held Bible study sessions three times daily, sometimes at 1 a.m., she said.
"At times, under his direction and presence, the girls would engage in sexual acts," Gamoian said.
The defense said Sebhrenah Wesson, the 26-year-old murdered woman and Wesson's daughter, killed the children and then shot herself. She is also the mother of one of the slain children.
Defense attorney Torres conceded his client is a zealot, polygamist and dysfunctional man, but not a murderer. "He believed in a certain way of raising his children," the attorney said. "Religion was powerful to him. He had deeply held beliefs but he was a flawed man."
Why is this guy still breathing?
He is as crazy as a crackhouse rat. But he certaunly knew what he was doing. It will take years upon years and millions of dollars in appeal after appeal before he gets what's coming to him
On a side note, I still love the way the media spins this..."...David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidian cult who was killed in a fiery 1993 confrontation with authorities in Texas."
More like "David Koresh who was broiled along with many other men, women and children when Janet Reno pulled out the big guns to quell an alledged uprising"
The things some people won't do.
Didn't most of the people say the same about Dahmer?
yup, that's the guy, "Charlie Marley"
< sarcasm > What are you people? Incestaphobic or something? You are all so narrow minded! < sarcasm off >
My husband atually met this guy when he was inquiring about renting a boat dock in Marshall, CA in late 2001 or early 2002. Apparently the guy had only recently moved to Fresno.
Marshall is on Tomales Bay in Marin County, 6 miles north of Point Reyes Station. My husband has lived in the middle of Montana for the past 30years, and for him to actually talk to a murderer like this really creeped him out.
A citizen-murderer? No need for the borderitos to comment on it since it doesn't fit their agenda.
His conviction will be overturned by the US Supreme Court because Saudi Arabia, Iranians and the Palestinians all allow multiple marriages and honor killings, thus Justice Kennedy will look to "international law" and world opinion to set him free.
was this cult part of NAMBLA??
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