After Daniel Marsh was convicted, a law was passed in California that no one under the age of 16 could be tried as an adult. Marsh's lawyers want the law applied to him retroactively. Inside Edition spoke to the slain couple's family.
A man convicted of murdering an elderly couple at random when he was a teen may soon be getting out of prison. Daniel Marsh, just 15 at the time, confessed to the fatal stabbing, saying, “I’m not going to lie. It felt amazing.”
Oliver Northup, 87, and his wife Claudia, 76, were found slain at their home outside Sacramento in 2013. Cops found the hunting knife at Marsh’s home. “I kept it as a souvenir,” the killer said.
Marsh was tried as an adult in the slayings and sentenced to 52 to years to live. But four years after his conviction, California passed a law that no one under the age of 16 could be tried as an adult.
Marsh’s lawyers want that law applied to him retroactively, saying he should be released next year when he turns 25.
Meanwhile, Marsh was diagnosed as a psychopath and experts who’ve assessed him are divided over whether he can be rehabilitated.
The family of the Northups is outraged at the possibility of his release.
“What this does is it traumatizes not only our family, but it traumatizes the whole community,” Claudia’s daughter Victoria told Inside Edition.
Victoria and Claudia’s granddaughter, Sarah, watched the court hearing from the offices of the district attorney.
“Our fight is to keep a psychopath in prison where he belongs,” Sarah said. “He has the potential to be on the street, and that puts everybody at risk — not just us.”
They believe Marsh will kill again if he’s released.
The appeals court has 90 days to render its decision.
