Trial begins in killing allegedly confessed to priest during Mass

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

The trial of a Las Vegas man who walked into church and allegedly confessed he killed his wife began Tuesday as friends of the deceased testified that the defendant had been confrontational in the days leading up to the slaying.

Frank Marques, 45, is charged with first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon for the August 2002 shooting of his wife, Candace Weckhorst, 35.

Weckhorst's body was found in a car in an alley east of downtown Las Vegas after she had left work for the day saying she was going to meet Marques.

Prosecutors allege Weckhorst left Marques and went to live with her friend Shiyo Montarro and her husband, Eric Alexander, about a week before her death.

Montarro testified Weckhorst was her "best friend." She said she had Weckhorst park her car in the garage so Marques wouldn't realize Weckhorst was staying with her. Marques still came to Montarro's house looking for his wife, according to Montarro.

Motarro said Marques knocked on the front door and told her and Alexander he saw Weckhort's car in the garage and said he wanted to see his wife. Montarro said while Marques was at the door Weckhorst was "hiding in the closet because she was so afraid."

After exchanging words with Alexander, Montarro said Marques got intp his car and left. The next morning Montarro said all four tires of her car were slashed and the back bumper looked like it "had been hit by a car."

Montarro said that after the incident Weckhorts traded in her car and filed a restraining order against Marques.

Montarro said she became worried something had happened to Weckhorst on the day of her death because she had not heard from her.

"She (Weckhorst) would check in with me when she got to work and would come sit with me at work after she got off until I was done at 11 p.m.," Montarro said. "Even if she went to lunch she would call. She hadn't called (the day of the killing) by 2 p.m., and her sister called me to tell me she hadn't heard from her either."

Montarro wiped away tears with a tissue and then glared at Marques as she said it was later that day when she found out Weckhorts was killed

The Rev. Bill Kenny told the Sun in a September 2002 interview Marques confessed to the killing on Aug. 8 at an early morning Mass at Christ the King Catholic Churchat Torrey Pines Drive and Tropicana Avenue.

"He knelt in front of me and said, 'Father, I need your blessing,' " said Kenny, a 58-year-old priest who has been at the church for more than 24 years. "I put my hand on his head and blessed him. He then said, 'Father, I murdered my wife.' "

Kenny said he and about 50 parishioners watched Marques as he pulled up his shirt, showing a gun he said was used in the crime.

Kenny finished the Mass and then called police. He was expected to testify today.

Defense attorneys admit Marques was the shooter, but should be convicted of manslaughter instead of first- or second-degree murder. They contend Marques acted during a period when he was emotionally unstable.

Under state law a killing is manslaughter if it was "voluntary, upon a sudden heat of passion, caused by a provocation apparently sufficient to make the passion irresistible, or involuntary, in the commission of an unlawful act, or a lawful act without due caution or circumspection."

Marques waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court on Aug. 27, 2002, and announced his intention to enter a plea agreement negotiated with the prosecution, but he decided against it at the last minute. Instead of facing a 40-year to life sentence as outlined by the plea agreement, Marques now could receive a no-parole life sentence if convicted.