A San Luis Obispo county jury has convicted 44-year-old Marco Antonio Cota, Jr. of first-degree murder and mutilation of human remains.
This conviction is for the murder of 64-year-old Rick Fowler back in November 2021. A release by the DA’s office says the two were engaged in a verbal argument in the open space area of San Luis Obispo, where Cota followed Mr. Fowler back to his campsite before attacking and beating him to death, and piercing his body with several sticks.
The judge for this case found that Cota had also suffered three prior convictions for “strike” offenses under California’s Three Strikes Law. These include robbery in 1998 in Tulare county, criminal threats in 2014, and assault with a deadly weapon in 2016.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, 2024. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
