The state Supreme Court has
upheld the conviction and death
sentence of a transient ex-con
vict who killed two people and
wounded two more during a
1990 East Bay shooting spree.
Delaney Geral Marks, now
46, without provocation shot
and critically wounded Mui
Luong, 20, on Oct. 17, 1990 in a
fast food restaurant at 14th and
Jackson streets in downtown
Oakland, then walked down
Jackson Street to a market
where he shot and killed grocer
Peter Baeza, 60, and critically
wounded employee John Myers,
30. About an hour later, he
robbed, shot and killed taxi
driver Daniel McDermott, 47,
who had just driven him from
Oakland to Eagle Avenue in Ala
meda.
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Marks was arrested the next
day, and was convicted and sen
tenced to death in 1994. In his
automatic appeal to the state
Supreme Court, Marks claimed
the trial court erred in finding
him mentally competent to
stand trial, thereby depriving
him of due process under both
the federal and state constitu
tions. He also claimed his jury
was biased by seeing a sheriff’s
deputy stationed next to him
during his courtroom testimony,
even though he had attacked his
own attorney in court and
caused other disruptions.
In addition, Marks claimed
the trial court violated his rights
by admitting a videotape de
picting Luong’s daily activities
and photos of the crime scenes
and victims, as well as testi
mony about his two prior con
victions and his parole status at
the time of the murders.
The court issued a unani
mous opinion Thursday re
jecting all his arguments.