Killer with little time to live gets 100-year term for landlady's death

A kidney dialysis patient with less than two years to live was sentenced Monday to 100 years in prison for killing his landlord last year.

Joel Marks, 59, would have to serve at least 40 years in prison to be eligible for parole in the death of Mary Banister, 75. He could have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, but attorneys said that with his illness, he will likely die within 18 months anyway.

Marks called 911 on June 16, 1999, to report that he had shot and killed Banister about five hours earlier.

Jurors returned a first-degree murder conviction Monday morning. His 20-year-to-life sentence was doubled because of the age of the victim and the fact that he used a firearm.

Marks is scheduled to be formally sentenced by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure July 24.

Defense attorneys tried to convince jurors to convict Marks of voluntary manslaughter instead of first- or second-degree murder. They argued that Marks, who is suffering from diabetes and kidney failure, flew into a rage when Banister tried to throw him out just days after he paid his rent.

However, prosecutors twice played Marks' 911 call in an attempt to illustrate Banister's death was a premeditated and deliberate act by Marks.

At one point on the tape, Marks told the dispatcher "I picked up the gun and said, 'You better give me my money,' and she said, 'Go ahead and shoot me' and so I did."

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