A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a transient’s conviction for fatally stabbing a man during an altercation in Pomona over seven years ago.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in Jonathan Scott Marsh’s case.
Marsh, now 62, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a 26-year-to-life state prison sentence for the Jan. 25, 2018, killing of Matthew Musick, 40,
In its 35-page ruling, the appellate court panel noted that Marsh’s “version of events was dramatically undermined by the eyewitness testimony and photographic evidence indicating defendant stabbed or cut Musick multiple times all over his body.”
Marsh — who testified in his own defense — admitted that it was possible he struck Musick with his knife while trying to push him away, but maintained that he did not intentionally try to stab him and denied punching him in the face, the appellate court justices noted in their ruling.
He had initially told police he wasn’t behind the grocery store at the time of the stabbing and had only heard about it later, then changed his story after police implied they had video footage of what had happened, according to the ruling.
Marsh was arrested about two weeks after the killing.