Marion Patterson III Sentenced to 17 Years for Role in Slaying of ASU Senior Zachary Marco

Marion Patterson III, the accomplice of the man who shot and killed Arizona State University senior Zachary Marco, was sentenced today to 17 years in prison. Marco, 21, was robbed of his laptop in October 2010 by Patterson and another local gang-banger, Louis Harper, who wielded a gun. Rather than...

By Ray Stern

November 30, 2012

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Marion Patterson III, the accomplice of the man who shot and killed Arizona State University senior Zachary Marco, was sentenced today to 17 years in prison.

Marco, 21, was robbed of his laptop in October 2010 by Patterson and another local gang-banger, Louis Harper, who wielded a gun. Rather than simply steal the item, Harper chose to pull the trigger and murder the young college student.

Harper was sentenced earlier this month to 40 years in prison.

Patterson cut a deal with prosecutors back in February that allowed him to plead guilty to second-degree murder, ensuring a lesser sentence than Harper.

The tragic crime generated plenty of fear and concern at ASU, especially because another student, Kyleigh Sousa, had been murdered during a robbery near the IHOP at College Avenue and Apache Boulevard. The killer in that case, Joseluis Marquez, was found guilty of first-degree murder last month and awaits sentencing in December.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.