Man gets life in roommate murder case in Pahrump

Nye County Fifth District Court Judge Kimberly Wanker sentenced Marco Torres, 58, to life in prison for the murder of his cancer-stricken roommate, Jonathan Piper, last April.

Wanker handed down the sentence during Torres’ sentencing hearing on Friday, June 25.

According to evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, Torres was the caregiver to Piper, who was suffering from stage-four terminal throat cancer.

During a physical argument over spilled marijuana, Piper attempted to call for help, according to court documents, which stated that Torres told detectives that he choked Piper until he stopped breathing.

“Mr. Piper was on the phone with 911 when Mr. Torres broke into his room and told the police the call was a false alarm and disconnected the phone call,” the documents stated. “Torres identified himself as “Bozo the Clown.”

Forced entry

When deputies arrived on scene to investigate the 911 hang-up, Torres told them to leave the property.

As deputies eventually forced their way into the residence, they soon discovered Piper’s body in a bedroom with visible injuries to his head and face.

Clear indignation/A matter of time

Prior to sentencing Torres, Judge Wanker did not mask her feelings about the actions Nye County law enforcement took, or rather, did not take while at the scene of the crime.

Wanker criticized the investigators for not entering the home sooner, after they arrived at the Linda Street address.

“Probably the most disturbing part about this case, for this judge, and having watched everything is two-fold,” she told the courtroom. “One is the fact that when the Nye County Sheriff’s Office responded, they didn’t break the door down. I, to this day, do not understand the lack of understanding that no probable cause was needed to breach the door and go in. Instead, after fumbling and bumbling for 35 minutes, finally a lieutenant made the determination to call a locksmith and that took a significant amount of time, and it took the locksmith a significant amount of time to get the door open.”

Wanker also noted that if investigators had time to call a locksmith, they also had the time to call a judge to secure a search warrant in order to essentially break the door down and gain access to the residence if probable cause was a concern.

Should have known better

Additionally, Wanker also noted that there are exceptions for law enforcement to enter a residence without a search warrant.

“One is a medical emergency exception which is well-delineated under Nevada law, with Nevada case authority, so it’s troubling to me,” she said. “Maybe I understood the deputies, but it went from a deputy, to a sergeant, and then to a lieutenant. Lieutenants report directly to the sheriff. We have 11 lieutenants here at the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and it is troubling to me that the deputies, the sergeant and the lieutenant, did not understand the law. With that being said, it’s equally disturbing to me that when Nye County Sheriff’s Office investigators were at that property, knocking on the door and knocking on the windows, Mr. Torres stood silent. They could hear movement in the property, but he wouldn’t come to the door.”

Life in Prison

Following her admonishment of the responding investigators, Wanker handed down Torres’ sentence.

“It’s going to be the order and the judgment of the court that the defendant Marco Antonio Torres is sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, with parole eligibility beginning when a minimum of 10 years have been served,” she said.

It should also be noted that

Piper’s younger brother Christopher was also at the sentencing hearing to provide a victim impact statement to the courtroom.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes