A 64-year-old man in California was brutally killed by a 44-year-old man who beat him to death before “piercing” his body with many wooden sticks that were discovered sticking out of his neck, rectum, and eyes. The man will spend the rest of his life in prison for this act.
Marco A. Cota Jr. was sentenced to 75 years to life in a state jail facility on Wednesday by San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Timothy S. Covello, with an extra 21 years for the 2021 killing of Rick Fowler, according to an announcement from the authorities.
The punishment was imposed after Cota was found guilty by a jury in February of first-degree murder and disfiguring human remains. Then, the same jury concluded that Cota was really convicted three times before for felonies that qualified as “strikes” under California’s Three Strikes Law.
Among Cota’s previous convictions are three from 1998: one for robbery, one for making criminal threats, and one from 2016 for assault with a lethal weapon.
Citing Cota’s insertion of sticks into the victim, Covello not only ordered Cota’s imprisonment but also had him classified as a sex offender.
A press release issued by the county district attorney’s office states that the attack happened on November 20, 2021, in the evening in San Luis Obispo’s Bianchi Open Space area.
There were multiple illegal homeless encampments in the region, which is roughly 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
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Prosecutors used evidence during the trial to demonstrate that Cota and Fowler had a verbal argument the night of the murder. Following Fowler back to his campground, Cota attacked the elderly man and eventually killed him with a beating.
“Cota then pierced the body of Mr. Fowler in various areas with several wooden sticks including penetration of the victim’s rectum,” prosecutors stated in the release. “When asked by law enforcement why he did so, Cota replied that he ‘wanted to show you what evil looks like.'”
Images from the crime site showed Fowler laying facedown in the earth in a dry stream bed, according to a Tribune story. His trousers had been pulled down to reveal his buttocks, and he had been so violently beaten that his head was deformed. Then, wooden sticks had been jammed into Fowler’s neck, eyeballs, and buttocks.
Jurors gave little credence to Cota’s assertion that he had merely attacked Fowler in self-defense.
Covello allegedly informed Cota that the trial was one of the most “disturbing cases” he had ever encountered before imposing the life sentence.
“Finally, there is justice for Mr. Rick Fowler, the victim in this case, who was senselessly and brutally murdered and his body mutilated,” County District Attorney Dan Dow stated. “We are grateful to the jury for faithfully performing their civic duty by their careful attention to the presentation of evidence. Mr. Cota was given a fair trial, and now he will serve his fair and appropriate life sentence in prison. This sentence sends a loud message that violent crime is aggressively prosecuted in San Luis Obispo County.”
