Man sentenced to life in 2022 Calvary Church killing

A judge on Monday sentenced Marc Ward to life in prison after a jury found him guilty in March of using a truck to strike and kill a 61-year-old security guard in the parking lot of Calvary Church in 2022.

The 2nd Judicial District Court jury convicted Ward, 36, of first-degree murder in the killing of 61-year-old Daniel Bourne, who was fatally struck as he approached Ward’s truck on Sept. 23, 2022.

The sentence, handed down by Judge David Murphy, requires Ward to serve at least 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

At Ward’s trial, prosecutors told jurors that Ward used his father’s Ford F150 to strike Bourne twice, “making sure Daniel Bourne was dead.”

Prosecutor Savannah Brandenburg-Koch argued that Ward accelerated in the moments before he struck Bourne, then wheeled the truck around and struck Bourne a second time.

Borne made a cellphone video of the final moments of his life, which was played repeatedly for jurors during Ward’s trial.

In the video, Bourne’s breathing becomes labored after he was struck. The recording indicates that Bourne continued breathing for several minutes after he was struck.

At his trial, Ward’s attorneys acknowledged that Ward struck and killed Bourne but argued that the death was accidental and unintentional.

Skip Heitzig, Calvary’s senior pastor, attended much of the six-day trial along with dozens of other Calvary Church members.

Calvary Church is one of New Mexico’s largest churches with an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 members, a church official testified at Ward’s trial.

Bourne drew a handgun in the moments before he was struck and fired two gunshots at the truck. One gunshot struck the radiator, which left a fluid trail that prosecutors said traced the truck’s movements in the parking lot.