Santa Fe, NM (KKOB)– The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and life sentence for a man found guilty of killing a church security guard in 2022 with a pickup truck in the church parking lot. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice C. Shannon Bacon, the Court rejected arguments by Marc Ward of Albuquerque, that there was not enough evidence to support his conviction and that the trial court wrongly denied a request to instruct the jury on the crime of involuntary manslaughter. The killing happened back on September 23, 2022, when the victim Daniel Bourne went to check on what he thought was a suspicious vehicle in the Calvary Church parking lot in the area of Osuna near Jefferson. Ward testified that he was watching a movie on a tablet in his truck and was startled by a flashlight in his mirror. He claimed he accidently struck Bourne as he drove out of the parking lot and Bourne fired a gun at his truck. According to the prosecution, Ward had circled back after striking Bourne and ran over him a second time. Two impacts could be heard on a recording from Bourne’s phone, who had started recording a video on the phone but the camera was covered for most of the incident. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Ward got out of his truck after hitting Bourne and dragged his body into a nearby arroyo.
The victim’s blood also was found on Ward’s jeans.
The Court concluded that an involuntary manslaughter jury instruction was not necessary in Ward’s trial “because Defendant’s testimony indicated he killed Victim purely by accident: that is, Defendant asserted he was unaware his actions put Victim at risk.”
