Fifteen-year old convicted of brutal 1995 murder in Devils Lake will remain in prison

It was one of the most brutal, cold hearted murders in North Dakota history. This week, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled on whether the man who committed that murder, should be released on parole.

We look back at this terrible crime and have reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to keep Marlon Comes behind bars.

Devils Lake, December 1995: “The clerk was killed by a shotgun blast to the head around 3:30 a.m. A delivery man found the clerk’s body.

Bruce Kemmet, Former Devils Lake Police Chief: “You know we’re talking about a shotgun blast to the head. So, it’s definitely a gruesome scene.”

At the age of 15, Marlon Comes plead guilty to robbing the store clerk, Donald Jerome of around 150-bucks. Then, for no reason, he ordered Jerome on his knees and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun slug. According to the Prosecutor, Marlon Combs left the store with 2 accomplices, laughing about the gruesome crime they’d just committed.

Lonnie Olson, Prosecutor: “They were kind of emulating gang culture. So, they had a stolen shotgun that had been sawed off and the stock had been fashioned into a pistol grip and decided they were going to do a stop and rob like the gangsters in the big cities were doing. It was a big sentence, but it was a big crime.”

This past week the North Dakota Supreme Court denied Marlon Comes’ motion for a new trial, because he claimed he didn’t realize he wouldn’t be eligible for parole, until he’d served at least 85-percent of his life expectancy in prison.

Prosecutor Lonnie Olson says it means that Comes, who is now 35, will not be eligible for parole until the year 2041.

Lonnie Olson, Prosecutor: “He started signing all of his letters out from jail, Mr. one slug, because Mr. Jerome was executed with a shotgun slug.”

Olson says he’s satisfied with the the Supreme Courts decision to keep Comes behind bars.

Two other accomplices in that murder-robbery are scheduled to be released from prison soon.

Adrian Alex is scheduled to be released in September of this year, and Wayne Greywater is scheduled to be released in April of 2018.