Murder or the heat of passion

By Matt Pordum

Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 | 9:51 a.m.

After a roughly six-week trial, a Clark County jury is now left to determine if Daniel Wolff is rightly accused of murder or if he responded with rage after waking up to find himself being raped.

Prosecutors allege that after a night of drug-fueled partying, Wolff, 35, went home with 40-year-old Richard Marotto on Dec. 13, 2001, and killed Marotto. Prosecutors say he then stole Marotto's car as well as a variety of items from his house and pawned Marotto's jewelry at four different pawn shops in Las Vegas.

Marotto was a successful businessman who owned hair salons in Miami and Dallas. He also was gay and HIV positive, according to prosecutors. Wolff, who is gay and HIV negative, told detectives during his statement that he had been unemployed for several months but previously worked for a temp agency in the automobile auction industry.

The jury was to begin deliberations this morning.

Special Public Defender Bret Whipple has said that when the killing occurred, his client was under the influence of the club drug GHB and had awakened to find that he was being raped, so he reacted violently.

During closing arguments on Wednesday Whipple told the jury he didn't care if someone "is male or female, gay or straight; in the end 'no' means 'no' when it comes to sex." Whipple argues that upon arriving to Marotto's house, Wolff passed out after ingesting GHB and woke up to find himself being sodomized by Marotto.

Whipple said Wolff's reaction was caused by the heat of passion and was not a premeditated or deliberate act, as the prosecutors contend.

The prosecution has argued Wolff met Marotto at a bar, Wolff went home with him and used a slab of marble to bash Marotto's head, covered Marotto's head with a plastic bag, choked him with an extension cord and stabbed him several times before leaving Marotto under the covers of his bed.

Deputy District Attorney Ross Miller said that even if the jury were to believe Wolff was raped and was reacting in the heat of passion, Wolff's own recounting on the witness stand of the night deflates his defense.

Miller said after the initial blow Wolff gave to Marotto with the marble slab, Wolff said he left the room, went into the swimming pool, returned to get his clothes and went to the kitchen where Wolff grabbed a knife. Miller said Wolff then said he went back to Marotto and stabbed him with the knife, walked away to grab plastic garbage bags and then returned to put one on Marotto's head and proceeded to wrap an extension cord around Marotto's neck.

Miller reasoned if Wolff was acting in the heat of passion, he wouldn't have continued to come after Marotto after the initial blow.

"This chain of events shows plenty of deliberation and reflection," Miller said. "If this was a case of 'in the heat of passion,' any killer would have grabbed an item close to them."

Additionally, Miller reminded the jury that no evidence existed of a sexual encounter ever taking place between Wolff and Marotto.

Miller asked the jury if someone who was raped would take so many efforts to remember the event, such as the "trophies" Wolff was found to have positioned on his wall in plain view at his home.

Whipple argued that there is no scientific way to prove how anyone will react to being raped, and Wolff's "emotional response to being raped is justifiable."

Whipple admitted his client was not a "boy scout, maybe someone you (the jury) might not want living next to you," but the prosecution failed to prove he committed murder.

Whipple said because no third person witnessed what happened the night of the murder, "the truth is we will never know exactly what happened."

In closing the case, Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe said the evidence clearly showed Wolff is a thief and that he lies to people. Monroe said the evidence in no way suggests Wolff was raped by Marotto, but instead shows Wolff saw Marotto as a wealthy man he could rob under the guise of sex.

Monroe said the knife was used because Marotto woke up again, and the plastic bag and cord was used to finally stop Marotto from gasping for air.