A CLOSER LOOK -- A tale of two families continues

Deepa Bharath

The families of Eric and Pegye Bechler will move on after last week’s

guilty verdict, but in dramatically different ways.

Pegye’s parents, her brother and three sisters, will try to bury their

murdered loved one in their own minds. Without her body, which was never

found, it is the most they can do.

But Eric Bechler’s family will continue to fight for his acquittal by

appealing the verdict.

A 12-member jury convicted Bechler on Thursday of first-degree murder

for killing his 38-year-old wife during what was supposed to have been a

celebratory boating excursion off the Newport Beach coast more than three

years ago.

Jurors also found him guilty of “lying in wait” or suddenly ambushing

his victim -- his wife. But they acquitted him of the charge that he

murdered Pegye, a successful physical therapist and businesswoman, for

financial gain.

The prosecution argued Bechler wanted to cash in on Pegye’s

$2.5-million life insurance policy. Once sentenced on March 16, Bechler

will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of

parole.

Eric Bechler’s defense attorney, John Barnett, said Friday he will

appeal the jury’s decision based on jurisdiction and “corpus” issues.

Barnett submitted a motion to the Orange County Superior Court during

the trial saying the case should be dismissed because, according to

prosecution accounts, Bechler hit his wife on the head with a 35-pound

dumbbell and weighted her body into the ocean about eight to 10 miles off

the coast of Newport Beach, well outside the state’s jurisdiction.

That motion, strategically submitted by Barnett right after the

prosecution rested its case, was denied by Judge Frank F. Fasel because

he said there was enough evidence that Bechler had embarked on the

murderous voyage with his wife equipped with weights, trash bags and

dumbbells.

But Barnett still disagrees with that ruling.

“The prosecution’s evidence does not prove the incident happened

within California’s territorial waters,” he said. According to him, the

state’s jurisdiction ends within four miles of the coast.

Proving a crime happened

Another factor that is part of the appeal is the “corpus” issue -- in

other words a “body of evidence” that could be negated because of lack of

proof that a crime happened.

The law states the court should not consider any of the defendant’s

statements unless there is evidence of a crime. And usually the victim’s

body is the prime proof that a murder was committed.

“If they redact everything Eric said -- to the police, to Tina, to

Kobi there is no way to prove a crime here,” Barnett said.

He was referring to what was considered to be the most telling

evidence in the case -- as set of surreptitiously recorded tapes that

contained conversations between Bechler and his former girlfriend Tina

New. Also significant was the testimony of Bechler’s best friend, Kobi

Laker, who said Bechler told him four months before Pegye’s disappearance

that he was thinking about stuffing her in a barrel and dumping her in

the ocean.

Both legal issues put forth by Barnett are “pretty good issues,” said

Lloyd Freeberg, an Orange County defense attorney.

“They are also fascinating issues,” he said, “because the lack of a

body always leaves open questions about the wounds and manner of death.

There’s no way to prove that without the body or blood.”

Most states have usually ruled on issues of jurisdiction before and

have definite ways of dealing with the problem, said Martin Levine,

professor of criminal law at USC.

“Every state has a rule relating to the jurisdiction issue,” he said.

“I’m sure California does too, although I haven’t read it.”

It is something that could turn out to be a valid legal issue in the

Court of Appeals, said Levine.

Barnett said Bechler’s family is “determined to proceed” with the

appeal process, and he is “optimistic” about its chances.

Pegye’s family, on the other hand, is facing challenges of a very

different kind. Her parents, Glenn and June Marshall, who live in Dexter,

N.M., have been given permanent legal custody of two of the Bechlers’

three children. One other child is with one of Pegye’s sisters.

The children’s well-being is among the family’s immediate concerns,

said Pegye’s brother, Larry Marshall.

“Our hope is that we can be positive factors in their lives and help

set them on the ground,” he said. “We have a lot to talk about as a

family.”

Marshall, who was also his sister’s insurance agent, said it is not

clear yet who will be the beneficiary of Pegye Bechler’s life insurance

policy worth $2.5 million. A number of issues must be settled before that

can be determined, he said.

Community support

In the city of Dexter, a small, close-knit community of 1,200, people

are rallying around the Marshalls.

Fellow church members have organized a prayer chain for the family,

said Margaret Reid, a friend of the family.

“I pray for them every day as I’m sure many others in our community

do,” she said. “They are such a wonderful family, and this is a terrible

thing that happened to them.”

Reid added that younger mothers in the community have come forward to

take turns looking after the children when the Marshalls had to fly to

California for the trial.

“Others take food over sometimes,” she said. “People talk to them in

an encouraging way. We do what we can because we really respect the

family and care about them.”

The Marshalls were pioneer settlers who moved into the little town of

Dexter, with its brown, arid landscape dotted with dairy farms. The

Marshalls settled here in the 1800s when the first railroad was built.

Reid describes her town as quiet and peaceful, one where “people are

educated” and a town “that’s just a nice place to come home to.”

It was in this community that Pegye Marshall was born, the fourth of

five children. She had an older brother, two older sisters and one

younger sister.

Most of her family and friends remember Pegye as strong, athletic and

cheerful. She was nicknamed “the frog” as a child because of her

abilities as a swimmer. She participated in the Milkman Marathon that was

held the first Saturday of June every year. She won many of them.

In June 1997, she came back to Dexter for two reasons -- to

participate in the marathon and to celebrate her parents’ 50th wedding

anniversary. Her family never saw her again.

The emotion is so overwhelming, it is even hard to talk about Pegye or

describe who she was, her brother said.

“Oh, Pegye,” he sighed. “She was a first-grader when I was a senior in

high school. She was happy, jolly, carefree and she just had tremendous

energy and an engaging smile.”

According to Reid, whose daughter and Pegye were on the swim team in

the local high school, Pegye was a person “who always took charge when

she was with kids her age.”

“She always liked to see the positive in everything,” said Reid. “She

loved music. She played the piano. She had a strict, yet kind

upbringing.”

Pegye also had strong moral values and liked to do things her way.

Reid recalled reading a news story where she read that Bechler called his

wife “controlling.”

“And I thought ‘I bet she was controlling,”’ Reid said. “But that’s no

reason to kill a person. Pegye had a lot of wonderful, wonderful

qualities.”