OCT 1, 2022
In a four-page handwritten letter to the Temple Daily Telegram, Cedric Marks talks about his pending criminal case but doesn’t include the names of Jenna Scott or Michael Swearingin, the
kdhnews.com
In a four-page handwritten letter to the Temple Daily Telegram, Cedric Marks talks about his pending criminal case but doesn’t include the names of Jenna Scott or Michael Swearingin, the Temple residents he is accused of killing in 2019.
“My name is Cedric Marks, and I am currently a pre-trial detainee at the Bell County Jail accused of several very serious crimes, to all of which I have maintained my innocence,” Marks said in the letter dated Sept. 13.
Marks, who is defending himself in the death penalty case with assistance from defense attorneys, complained about media coverage of pre-trial hearings he’s involved in. Specifically, he said, reporting of his alleged victims’ injuries is inaccurate. Marks attempted to act like a lawyer with his letter.
“Either way, it is unethical and defamatory reporting, and if printed again outside of fact, will be met with legal action,” Marks said.
[...]
Marks, 48, said he believes FME News Service reporter Christian Betancourt’s reporting to include autopsy report information is motivated by “his personal relationship with the alleged victim’s family.”
The reporter, who joined the Telegram in October 2021, has some contact with family members during trial proceedings. The newspaper has interviewed family members for prior reports. The late Deborah McKeon, who was named Reporter of the Year by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors (now Texas Managing Editors) in 2020, launched the Telegram’s reporting on the double homicide case.
“It is my speculation that Mr. Bettencourt (sic) puts that in his report each time to insinuate to the public that some sort of beatings caused this young woman’s death with the wide knowledge that I am in face (sic) a former MMA competitor,” Marks said. “That statement infers guilt, and is false reporting and defamatory, which also poisons potential jurors and further perpetuates the previous false accusation that I was an abuser — which all evidence in hand completely refutes. Either Mr. Bettencourt (sic) has never seen the autopsy report or he is going on hearsay from individuals motivated to have me found guilty whether through ethical or unethical means. … I am not requesting that truth be printed because that hasn’t happened once. I am simply asking that lies not be printed. Mr. Bettencourt (sic) is free to continue his clearly biased, cherry picked reporting of me, since I seem to be his pet project due to his personal relationship with the alleged victim’s family, and his assumed need to follow suit of every other desperate reporter seeking ratings for salacious subjects.”
[...]
“Be sure to thank Mr. Bettencourt (sic) for continuing to display that picture of me each time in order to show me as some deranged person, even though that pic was taken after a month in solitary with no razor or ability to access a shower, and in fact, before this nightmare began, I’ve never had facial hair nor that look in my life,” Marks said. “I thank him because when I get through this and am able to clear my name, any future MMA opponents will be intimated from that picture alone, and since I’ve long fell (sic) out of shape to compete, I’ll need all the intimidation in the ring possible. Cheers."
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