Wolff sentenced to spend rest of life in prison

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

Jurors decided Friday that 35-year-old Daniel Wolff should spend the rest of his life in prison for the December 2001 killing of Richard Marotto, a 40-year-old successful businessman.

After the sentence of life without parole was announced, the jury foreman told District Judge John McGroarty that some members of the jury felt traumatized by the evidence in the case and wanted to know if counseling was available from the court.

McGroarty apologized and said that no funding existed for such counseling.

Throughout the six-week trial jurors were shown gruesome photographic evidence of the murder.

The prosecution alleged that after a night of drug-fueled partying, Wolff went home with Marotto and bashed his head in with a slab of marble before choking him with an extension cord and stabbing him several times.

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.

Wolff's defense had been that he had awakened while being raped by Marotto and reacted with violence.

The jury took roughly four hours to sentence Wolff after hearing testimony from both his family and Marotto's mother, brother and sister-in-law.

Special Public Defender Bret Whipple had asked the jury to give Wolff a chance at getting out of prison eventually by sentencing him to 40 years to life in prison.

"He believes in life," Whipple said. "He lives, loves and feels emotion and deserves the right of hope in 40 years."

Deputy District Attorney Ross Miller said Wolff deserved no hope because "Richard Marotto has no hope of getting out of his coffin. He will be there for eternity."

Marotto's mother, Beatrice Marotto-Vitanza, was unable to read her prepared statement to the jury due to her vision being impaired by a stroke. Monroe read the statement, in which Marotto-Vitanza said her son "has been a spark in my life."

Marrotto-Vitanza said her son was loving and tried to help people whenever he was able. She said he was there for her when her husband died, and while recovering from her stroke Marotto pushed her through therapy.

"I promised him I wasn't going to die until it (the trial) was over with," Marotto-Vitanza said. "I feel empty and lifeless. I don't know how to go on."

Marotto's brother, David Marotto, told the jury that nine days after the murder he found his brother dead after Marotto's mother became worried when she hadn't heard from her son. He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome due to his brother's murder.

Once a prominent chef, he said he now has "no enthusiasm to go out there and do it again." He said his brother was an "outgoing man, one that many people loved and one who opened his heart to all of those in his life."

David Marotto' wife, Debbie, said although Marotto was her brother-in-law, she considered him the brother she never had. She said Marotto was a "kind, gentle, caring man who accomplished so many things" in life.

Richard Marotto was a charitable man who gave both his money and time to such causes as City of Hope, which is an organization hoping to one day cure cancer and other life-threatening diseases, Debbie Marotto said.

Marotto was a successful businessman who owned hair salons in Miami and Dallas.

Daniel Wolff decided not to take the stand during the penalty hearing, but his mother, Laura Wolff, said he was a "compassionate, loving son, he was my whole life."

Laura Wolff said she felt the pain and sorrow expressed by the Marotto family.

"As a mother, my heart wrenches for Richard's (Marotto) mother, I'm so sorry," Laura Wolff said. "I have compassion for you. I pray for you just as I do for my son."

Monroe told the jury there was only one man to blame for all the sorrow expressed in court on Friday.

"Two families have been torn apart and only one person is responsible for that and for you being here six weeks and for the state of Nevada bringing these charges and he's (Wolff) sitting right here."

Wolff is scheduled to be sentenced for robbery with use of a deadly weapon on Nov. 4 before McGroarty.