Man sentenced to life in prison after fatally beating, jamming sticks into SLO man

A man convicted of murdering an elderly unhoused man and stuffing his body with sticks was sentenced to life in state prison Wednesday.

The man, Marco Antonio Cota Jr., was also ordered to register as a sex offender — a decision that left him audibly reeling.

On Feb. 13, after about two days of deliberations, a jury convicted Cota, 45, of murdering 64-year-old Rick Fowler. The crime occurred Nov. 21, 2021, when the two were both unhoused and camping in the creekbed near the interchange at Highway 101 and Madonna Road.

Cota was also found guilty of mutilation of human remains and was ordered to register as a sex offender because after the killing, he inserted sticks into the rectum area of the mutilated body.

As Judge Timothy Covello read the last part of the sentence of Cota having to register as a sex offender, Cota yelled, “For what?”

Cota’s attorney James Askew argued against the order, saying Cota inserting sticks into the rectum area was just a “continuation of mutilation” and that there was no evidence of sexual offense during the trial.

Fowler’s body was found in the dry creekbed near the intersection of Highway 101 and Madonna. Photos showed Fowler’s head beaten to the point it was misshapen. His body was found lying face-down in the dirt with his pants pulled down below his buttocks, with sticks protruding from his eyes and rectum.

Another stick was also found lodged in Fowler’s neck, a retired San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office coroner detective testified during the trial. The sticks were inserted into Fowler at the time of death or after, witnesses testified.

The prosecution argued Cota murdered Fowler while in a rage, while the defense asserted Cota killed Fowler in self-defense after the later “basically ambushed” Cota and challenged him to fight.

Cota told a detective that he forced sticks into Fowler’s body “to show you motherf--kers what evil looks like,” San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Chabra told jurors during her opening statements.

The jury ultimately agreed with the prosecution, and found Cota guilty of first-degree murder.

Defense attorney argues evidence did not support first-degree murder conviction

In April, Askew filed a motion for a new trial claiming there was insufficient evidence to convict his client of Fowler’s murder. The motion continued to assert Cota killed Fowler in self-defense, alleging that Fowler attacked Cota.

“It was dark, in the middle of the night with no lights in the area,” the motion read. “Cota’s statements to law enforcement state that he fought back and they were engaged in a ‘dog fight.’ It was during this fight that Cota killed Fowler.”

The motion asserted there was no evidence that showed Cota killed Fowler with premeditation, deliberation or planning or had an intention to kill him at the time — requirements for a first-degree murder charge. A person can also be convicted of first-degree murder if they kill someone in the process of committing a felony.

“There exists ample evidence that Cota caused the death of Fowler,” the motion said. “However, there is lack of evidence to support murder in the first degree.”

The motion claimed the only evidence of what happened during the fight was Cota’s interrogations with law enforcement, adding that there was no direct evidence that showed Cota had an intent to kill him.

“What was shown were sticks — sticks in Fowler’s eyes and in his anus,” the motion said. “These photos were shown numerous times to the jury and were up front and present at the People’s closing arguments.”

“While it is not suggested that showing such admitted evidence is wrong in any sense, it does suggest that such inflammatory photos did just that ... inflame the jury to the horrendous nature of Fowler’s body and the deprived actions that one human is capable of doing to another,” the motion continued.

The motion said while Cota’s actions were ”reprehensible,” they do not warrant a life sentence.

Askew also asked the judge to not consider Cota’s previous strike offenses in his sentencing. California’s Three Strikes law guarantees a 25-year-to-life sentence in state prison for the third strike — the same minimum sentence for first-degree murder.

Cota’s previous “strike” crimes included a 1998 conviction for robbery in Tulare County, convictions for criminal threats in 2014 and assault with a deadly weapon in 2016, both in San Luis Obispo County, a previous news release from the District Attorney’s Office said.

Ultimately, Covello denied Askew’s motion for a new trial and to reduce Cota’s sentence to second-degree murder.

Before reading the sentence, the judge said this was one of the most “disturbing cases” he ever saw. He said given the degree of violence inflicted upon Fowler “without any provocation,” it would be “exceedingly dangerous” to shorten the sentence.