Charges in Willits rape, murder could carry death sentence

The registered sex offender suspected of raping and murdering Willits resident Kayla Chesser has been charged with a list of crimes that potentially carry a death penalty sentence, a punishment that is rarely sought in Mendocino County.

The Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office has not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty in the case against Terrell James Marshall, 44, spokesman Mike Geniella said Friday.

“It is a possibility,” he said.

Marshall has been charged with murder, rape and sodomy along with special allegations that he committed the rape and sodomy in conjunction with a murder, according to Mendocino County Superior Court records. Charging documents also include allegations that he is a sex offender with a prior strike and a serious offender.

Marshall was convicted in 2000 of sexual penetration with a foreign object by force or fear in Santa Clara County. Officials from the Santa Clara County sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices declined to provide specifics of the case.

Records indicate Marshall also had a list of arrests in connection with less-serious offenses that include drunken driving, being under the influence of a controlled substance, failing to wear a seatbelt and assault.

The charges filed against Marshall this week have the potential to carry either a death penalty sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to handwritten notes jotted in court documents.

Marshall did not enter pleas to the charges during a videoconference arraignment Thursday.

If the District Attorney’s Office seeks the death penalty, it would be the first time since a mid-1990s Hells Angels multiple-murder case that it was pursued, Geniella said. That bid eventually was dropped, he said.

Other than to say they were glad Marshall had been apprehended, Ches-ser’s family has declined to comment about the case.

Marshall’s cousin, who owns the Brooktrails home where Chesser was found dead, did not return phone calls.

Chesser’s body was discovered in the early morning hours of Nov. 1. She had been with friends at a Halloween party, but they dropped her off at the Brooktrails house and then continued to socialize elsewhere, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

When they returned, Marshall, a Vacaville resident, was at the house. When they later checked on Chesser, they found her dead in a bedroom.

An autopsy found she had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

Marshall left the house before police arrived but was apprehended later that day after driving his vehicle over a cliff near Covelo. Sheriff’s officials said at the time it may have been a suicide attempt.

Chesser was a well-liked, lifelong Willits resident who taught dance and performed in a belly dance troupe.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.