Marijuana Murder Trial: Jury Begins Deliberations

SANTA ROSA - A Sonoma County Superior Court jury will begin its deliberations Thursday at the trial of a Colorado man charged with the execution-style shooting murder of his three business partners during a marijuana deal three years ago.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer Brady Thursday morning gave a 70-minute argument in rebuttal to the defense's closing argument Wednesday, then Judge Robert LaForge gave the panel final instructions.

Mark Cappello, 49, of Central City, Colorado, is charged with killing Todd Klarkowski, 42, of Boulder, Colorado, Richard Lewin, 46, of Huntington, New York and Raleigh Butler, 26, of Truckee, in Butler's mother's Forestville cabin on Feb. 5, 2013.

Cappello hired Odin Dwyer, 41, of Denver, Colorado, and his father Francis Dwyer, 68, of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to transport the packaged marijuana back to Colorado in Francis' Ford Ranger truck. Cappello drove to and from California in his Ford Bronco, according to the trial testimony.

Odin Dwyer testified he was in the Forestville cabin with Cappello, who told him the slayings "had to be done."

The prosecution has argued Cappello was in dire financial straits and he betrayed the trust of his three business partners because he needed the money.

Cappello and Odin Dwyer left the cabin in Cappello's Bronco with the money and 69 pounds of marijuana. Francis Dwyer was at Cappello's Santa Rosa motel room with Cappello's dog at the time of the 10:50 a.m. slayings, according to the Dwyers' testimony and statements to investigators.

One of defense attorney Joseph Stogner's witnesses, Kim Crumb, said he saw a Ford Ranger truck with two occupants driving toward him on state Highway 116 in Sebastopol around noon on Feb. 5. Stogner said Crumb's description of the truck matched Francis' truck.

Brady told the jury today that cellphone records show the Dwyers were nowhere near Highway 116 around noon, and Crumb's testimony about the truck was actually based on a photo of Francis' vehicle that Crumb saw in a newspaper two weeks after the murder.

Defense witness Erin Ellis, who lived near the cabin, said she heard five, not three gunshots before she picked up her children at school around 12:30 p.m. Brady told the jury Ellis testified she wasn't certain of the exact time she heard the gunfire, and the packaging of 100 pounds of marijuana by the three victims would not have taken two hours.

Cellphone call records show Cappello was at the Santa Rosa motel at 11:43 a.m., and the Dwyers were disposing of the murder weapon, as Cappello had ordered, near Sonoma State University at that time, Brady said.

State prison inmate Charles Wyatt testified Odin told him in Sonoma County Jail that he "whacked" the three victims and Cappello didn't know about the Dwyers' plans to kill them and steal the marijuana.

Wyatt, 43, contacted the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office offering to talk about the murder, but prosecutors ignored him because he was a sophisticated career criminal who "knows the game," Brady told the jury.

Wyatt then contacted the defense and asked for help with an appeal of one of his criminal cases, Brady said.

"When you don't have any facts, you argue the law. When the law is not on the defendant's side either, then you attack the messenger -- the investigation. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office did an excellent investigation. Investigators just followed the evidence," Brady said.

-Bay City News