13 Facts About Marcus Wesson

Marcus Wesson was born in Kansas, the eldest of four children of Benjamin and Carrie Wesson.

Marcus Wesson's mother raised him in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Marcus Wesson's father was an alcoholic child abuser who abandoned his family when Wesson was a child.

Shortly after leaving the military, Marcus Wesson moved in with an older woman, Rosemary Solorio, and her eight children in San Jose, California.

Marcus Wesson married Elizabeth when she turned 14 and he was 34.

Marcus Wesson never held a steady job; he lived off welfare and forced his working adult children to give him all their earnings.

In 1989, Marcus Wesson was convicted of welfare fraud and perjury.

Marcus Wesson prevented Elizabeth from participating in the children's upbringing.

On March 12,2004, several members of Marcus Wesson's extended family, along with two nieces who rebelled against him, converged on his family compound demanding the release of their children.

Marcus Wesson told the police to wait at the door and disappeared into the home.

Marcus Wesson was represented by public defenders Peter Jones and Ralph Torres.

The jury declined to find that Marcus Wesson fired the fatal shots but convicted him of murder anyway, presumably finding that he had pressured his children into entering a suicide pact.

Marcus Wesson was sentenced to death on June 27,2005, and is currently in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.