In the March/April 2004 issue of Adventist Today we reported on the arrest of Marcus Wesson in Fresno, Calif. for allegedly murdering nine people, all daughters, granddaughters, or nieces of himself. According to an Associated Press report, his case came to trial June 2, and on June 17 the jury reached a verdict of guilty on nine counts of first-degree murder and fourteen counts of raping and molesting seven of his underage daughters and nieces. At the penalty phase of his trial, on June 29, the jury recommended the death penalty for him. Formal sentencing is set for July 27.

The case was of interest to the Adventist church because Wesson had had some contacts with the church earlier in his life, even working as janitor for the Soquel camp meeting for two seasons. While he apparently had not joined a local church as a member, he was reported to have preached daily to his family, weaving a dogma of polygamy and incest from his own interpretations of the Bible and Adventist beliefs. His children, all home-schooled, thought of him as indeed a Seventh-day Adventist. Prosecutors of the case said Wesson had assumed an authoritarian stance and ruled his family like a clan.