On April 14, 2013, Oliver "Chip" Northup Jr. and his wife Claudia Maupin were tortured, murdered, and mutilated by Daniel William Marsh in the couple's Davis, California home.
[7] Marsh cut open the window screen, invaded the home, and made his way to the couple's bedroom where he found Maupin and Northup asleep.
He was a prominent attorney, receiving his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his legum baccalaureus from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley School of Law).
Additionally, Northup was a musician for the Putah Creek Crawdads and a founding member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis.
[17] Daniel William Marsh is a convicted felon who is serving a sentence of 52 years to life for the murders of Claudia Maupin and Oliver Northup, who lived two homes down from his father.
[22][failed verification] Prior to murdering Northup and Maupin, Marsh had an extensive history of violent and antisocial behavior, as well as severe mental health problems.
[23] He first made local headlines in 2008 at the age of 10 after receiving an American Red Cross Heroes Award for using CPR to save his father who was having a heart attack.
Soon after, Marsh had another meeting with the school counselor, this time describing graphically how he wanted to torture people by peeling skin from their hands and cutting off their eyelids.
[8][32] Beginning in 2012, Marsh became preoccupied with bestgore.com, a website that promoted "gore porn" and amateur videos of actual gory events.
[19][39] Kathleen Merikangas, a neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, disagreed, stating that there was no evidence of Marsh having anti-social or sexual sadism disorders.
[1][7] On April 14, between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., he left his mother's house and roamed the streets of Davis searching for a home with open doors or windows.
When she said no, Marsh began proudly describing the crime, giving details about the manner in which he had murdered Northup and Maupin, and smiling and explaining how great he had felt.
One or two weeks later, at around midnight, Marsh sneaked into her house through the dog door, an action that caused the girlfriend to fear for her life.
He stated that he "went to their bedroom, I opened the door, then I just kind of stood over their bed, watching them sleep for a few minutes...My body was trembling.
"[1] During his interrogation, Marsh admitted that he got a positive feeling from committing the murders, saying, "It was pure happiness, and adrenaline and dopamine, just all of it, rushing over me", and "I'm not gonna lie.
Reed also denied a motion made by prosecutors, which argued that the defense withheld discoverable evidence until days before the trial was set to begin.
[51] Marsh's defense team claimed that the side-effects of the medication he took combined with mental illness triggered uncontrollable violence and rendered him temporarily insane.
[31] During the trial, jurors heard from numerous witnesses, including investigators, a forensic pathologist, and Marsh's friends and ex-girlfriend (she broke up with him a few weeks after the murders).
Maupin's eldest daughter Victoria Hurd stated: "She lived her life loving people, always willing to lend a hand, a shoulder or an ear...If she were here, she would help us survive this.
[13][55] On February 22, 2018, the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District conditionally reversed Marsh's 2014 conviction pending a transfer hearing to determine if he should continue to serve his adult sentence.
However, new legal challenges arose when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1391, which prohibits juveniles under age 16 from being tried in adult court.
Prosecutors wrote in a letter to Governor Brown: "Senate Bill 1391 eliminates the authority for a court to decide whether a 14- or 15-year-old charged with certain serious offenses is unfit for the juvenile system."
The letter also contained information on Marsh, who had "savagely tortured and murdered an elderly couple in their home" and "methodically planned his attack, targeted the victims at random, and committed his heinous acts out of morbid curiosity.
[1] Prosecutors argued that Marsh should continue serving his adult sentence, as he was highly calculated in planning his crime, proclaimed that it gave him an exhilarating feeling, and tried on several occasions to commit more murders.
[6] On October 24, 2018, McAdam ruled in favor of the prosecution and remanded Marsh to state prison to continue serving his adult sentence.
[64] In the summer of 2019, Marsh's attorney filed an appeal, asking for his murder conviction to be overturned retroactively due to SB 1391.
Opponents of SB 1391 argue that it unconstitutionally amended Proposition 57 by repealing prosecutors' authority to seek the transfer of 14 and 15-year-old offenders to adult court.
Proponents of SB 1391 argue that the law does not conflict with Proposition 57 and that keeping 14 and 15-year-old offenders out of adult court is good public policy.
In the talk, which is titled "Embracing our Humanity," Marsh spoke of alleged hardships he had experienced and declared that he was reformed and deserving of another chance.
[1][67] Marsh remains incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego and is eligible for parole after serving 25 years of his life sentence.