Man convicted in Silver Saddle Saloon slaying, rejects sex charges
Harold Marin was caught red-handed — literally — and on Thursday a Clark County jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the slaying of a woman outside the Silver Saddle Saloon.
But the same jury of nine women and three men also acquitted the 39-year-old of two sex charges, rejecting arguments from prosecutors that Marin sexually assaulted Edis Hernandez-Quintanilla and later had sex with her body.
Prosecutors said Marin strangled Hernandez-Quintanilla, a 43-year-old mother of three, in his parked SUV outside the bar on East Charleston Boulevard in May 2010.
Surveillance video from inside the bar and the parking lot showed the two chatting before heading out to Marin’s vehicle.
Marin testified that he and Hernandez-Quintanilla agreed that he would pay her $100 for sex, but after she demanded all the money up front, the two started to quarrel.
Footage from the parking lot appeared to show Hernandez-Quintanilla moving from the front passenger seat to the back seat along with Marin for several minutes, before Marin got back behind the wheel and drove away.
During closing arguments this week, defense lawyer Bret Whipple argued that what happened in the back seat of the SUV was not exactly clear.
Marin drove around with Hernandez-Quintanilla’s body before dumping it in Boulder City near a police shooting range.
He didn’t get far before he was pulled over by Boulder City police for speeding.
During the traffic stop, officers discovered Hernandez-Quintanilla’s body face up in the desert with her pants pulled down. Marin had not cleaned himself up before getting rid of the body.
“I don’t know why you are doing all this,” he told police at the time. “I have blood on my hands. I’m guilty.”
That blood, which matched Hernandez-Quintanilla’s, also stained the front of his pants and shirt.
Marin told police at least six different versions of events, prosecutors said, including one in which he said a “cholo” who was with Hernandez-Quintanilla had attacked him. Cholo is a slang term for a Hispanic gangster.
But the surveillance video showed no other person entering the vehicle.
“There ain’t no cholo,” prosecutor Craig Hendricks told jurors.
Marin denied having sex with Hernandez-Quintanilla, though police found a used condom inside the vehicle.
“He’s trying to fool you with all his lies and all his different versions,” Hendricks said.
Whipple argued that “to exaggerate is human nature,” referencing suspended NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams, who recently recanted a story he told about events that occurred while he was covering the Iraq War.
Marin claimed that he acted in self-defense when he killed Hernandez-Quintanilla.
“What does Brian Williams have to do with this trial?” Whipple said. “It’s me asking you to treat my client fairly, and realize that all people exaggerate and all people can lie to help themselves.”
The attorney said his client panicked.
After the verdict, Marin and prosecutors agreed to a sentence of 20 to 50 years in prison, the minimum for first-degree murder.
Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker