Cleared of dad’s murder, man gets four years in theft of VA benefits

Authorities say Mark Christian strangled his 74-year-old father in 1999, buried his body in the woods and spent the next eight years living off his veteran benefits.

But both a California jury and a federal judge in Las Vegas have declined to hold Christian responsible in the slaying.

"The evidence is mixed on the issue of whether the defendant murdered his father," U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson said at a sentencing hearing Wednesday. "If he did, he has to live with that."

Christian, 55, was acquitted last year of murdering his father, James, a World War II fighter pilot.

However, Christian pleaded guilty in January 2009 to 10 counts of theft of government property and one count of making a false statement. He admitted stealing more than $79,000 in disability payments, intended for his father, from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

While the state court jury in California did not find Christian guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, federal prosecutors in Las Vegas argued that his guilt was established by the lesser standard of "clear and convincing evidence." They urged Dawson to use murder as an aggravating circumstance to justify a "substantial upward departure" from the federal sentencing guidelines in the theft case.

In a 55-page document filed this month, prosecutors recommended a 20-year prison term, but Dawson called that "overreaching."

The judge said he could not find "clear and convincing evidence" that Christian had murdered his father, but added, "Certainly he did not properly care for his father."

Sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of 21 to 27 months, but Dawson said Christian's concealment of the body, his lies to authorities and his potential for violence all indicated that a longer sentence was warranted.

"We do not see these actions in the typical theft-of-government-property case," the judge said.

Dawson then sentenced Christian to four years in prison. The judge said Christian will receive no credit for the time he spent in custody while awaiting trial in the murder case.

Christian was released after his August acquittal in San Bernardino, Calif., and returned to Nevada. He was remanded to custody Feb. 11 after authorities said he posed a threat to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Brown, who prosecuted the theft case.

According to court records, Christian told a friend that he had followed Brown from the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas to a Walmart shopping center. The defendant also said he had followed Brown home.

In the lengthy document filed this month, prosecutors argued that Christian killed his father March 21, 1999, while the elder man was in his "sole custody and care." The two shared an apartment in Las Vegas.

"James Christian's cognitive functioning had deteriorated to the point where he was wandering away from his residence and getting lost," they wrote. "He was unable to dress himself, feed himself, or control his bodily functions."

Prosecutors argued that James Christian suffered a severe, untreated facial fracture, "likely the result of a blow from a fist," weeks or months before his death.

"Forensic findings indicate that the most likely cause of death was manual strangulation," prosecutors wrote.

Mark Christian did not report the death, which he later described as natural. Instead, prosecutors argued, he "taped the body, including the wrists and face, rolled it in a blanket 'like a Tootsie Roll' without clothing or shoes, disposed of it like trash in a clandestine grave, moved overseas for some time, and collected financial benefits over the following years -- perhaps believing that his secret would remain forever hidden."

According to the prosecution document, Christian met a woman in New Zealand in December 2001 and married her in Las Vegas in July 2002. The woman sought a protective order and permanent separation the following year after episodes of violence involving her husband, according to the document.

In 2006, the woman wrote letters to the VA and other entities expressing concern about her husband's father, prompting an investigation.

With directions and a map provided by Christian, authorities found his father's skeletal remains in an unmarked grave in a remote area of the San Bernardino Mountains in May 2007.

"He buried his father in a way that was not respectful," Dawson said during Wednesday's hearing.

Christian disappeared around the time his father's body was found. He was arrested in August 2009 in Las Vegas.

At his sentencing hearing, the soft-spoken defendant described his father as a "great man" and said he hoped the truth about his death would come out.

"I was raised well," Christian said. "I had some beautiful parents."

Records show that Christian's mother died in 1967.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.