Pleasant Valley State Prison inmate who killed cellmate stuffed weapon in mattress: Investigator

15 years after an inmate was murdered at the Pleasant Valley State Prison, a Fresno County jury is now learning where investigators say the suspect stashed his weapon.

Prosecutors have charged Marcus Faulk with one count of murder. Media reports from 2009 say Faulk killed his cellmate, Jason Shawn Cannon, who was 35 years old and serving a 32-month sentence for resisting arrest.

On Thursday, jurors heard evidence about a prison-made weapon investigators found in Faulk's cell. It was stuffed in a mattress.

"As I recall, it was embedded in the stuffing," Fresno County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Hector Palma said. "In the center somehow."

Prosecutors say Faulk had a pact with another prison inmate to kill their cellmates. But Faulk denies the murder charge and has pleaded not guilty.

Faulk's public defender called on the prison's current chief of mental health, who has reviewed reports about Faulk's mental health diagnosis.

"Did you review a record where he was diagnosed in 2007, July 16 of 2007, with bipolar disorder?" public defender Philip Billington said. "Yes, I did," the doctor said.

It has taken years to get to the evidence attorneys are showing jurors.

The case has faced delays from the start. Prosecutors say Fresno County Sheriff Deputy Joel Wahlenmaier was investigating when he died in the line of duty back in 2010.

Prosecutors then filed the case in 2019. As it wound through the court system, attorneys ran into more delays because of the pandemic.

The challenges of trying a case that is now more than 15 years old were on full display Thursday as Dr. Bao Trinh testified.

"The two clinicians that were assigned to Mr. Faulk at the time have since passed away," he said.

Prosecutors say they will present more of their evidence next week. Then, the defense can call other witnesses to the stand to build its case.

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