Man sentenced to life in 2022 Calvary Church killing
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A judge on Monday sentenced Marc Ward to life in prison after a jury found him guilty in March of using a truck to strike and kill a 61-year-old security guard in the parking lot of Calvary Church in 2022.
The 2nd Judicial District Court jury convicted Ward, 36, of first-degree murder in the killing of 61-year-old Daniel Bourne, who was fatally struck as he approached Ward鈥檚 truck on Sept. 23, 2022.
The sentence, handed down by Judge David Murphy, requires Ward to serve at least 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole.
At Ward鈥檚 trial, prosecutors told jurors that Ward used his father鈥檚 Ford F150 to strike Bourne twice, 鈥渕aking sure Daniel Bourne was dead.鈥�
Prosecutor Savannah Brandenburg-Koch argued that Ward accelerated in the moments before he struck Bourne, then wheeled the truck around and struck Bourne a second time.
Borne made a cellphone video of the final moments of his life, which was played repeatedly for jurors during Ward鈥檚 trial.
In the video, Bourne鈥檚 breathing becomes labored after he was struck. The recording indicates that Bourne continued breathing for several minutes after he was struck.
At his trial, Ward鈥檚 attorneys acknowledged that Ward struck and killed Bourne but argued that the death was accidental and unintentional.
Skip Heitzig, Calvary鈥檚 senior pastor, attended much of the six-day trial along with dozens of other Calvary Church members.
Calvary Church is one of New Mexico鈥檚 largest churches with an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 members, a church official testified at Ward鈥檚 trial.
Bourne drew a handgun in the moments before he was struck and fired two gunshots at the truck. One gunshot struck the radiator, which left a fluid trail that prosecutors said traced the truck鈥檚 movements in the parking lot.
