'Blind Faith' Killer Robert Marshall Gains Parole Hearing

(Photo: New Jersey Department of Corrections)

Convicted killer Robert O. Marshall has been granted a full hearing before the state Parole Board, according to an article in the Asbury Park Press.

Marshall, 75, a former Toms River insurance salesman who was well-known in the community, has been in prison for 30 years, since his Dec. 19, 1984 arrest in the September 1984 murder-for-hire of his wife, Maria. The story of Marshall, the murder and his trial and conviction became widely known via the best-selling 1989 novel “Blind Faith,” by Joe McGinniss, as well as the 1990 TV miniseries that was based on the book.

Marshall was convicted in 1986 of arranging Maria’s murder so he could collect on a $1.5 million life insurance policy to pay off his debts and get out of his marriage, because he had fallen in love with another woman.

Marshall initially was sentenced to death, but in 2006 that sentence was overturned on appeal due to what the court ruled was ineffective counsel. He was resentenced to 30 years to life in prison at that time, and New Jersey abolished the death penalty a short time later.

Marshall sought early release on the grounds of health issues in 2012, but that request was rejected by Judge Wendel E. Daniels.

Maria Marshall was murdered Sept. 7, 1984, as she and her husband returned to Toms River from a trip to Atlantic City. Robert Marshall pulled off at the Oyster Creek picnic area in Lacey Township -- the rest area has since been closed. He told investigators he was hit on the head and knocked out while he was changing a flat tire, and when he regained consciousness, he found Maria dead of two gunshot wounds.

One of the men accused in the case, Larry Thompson of Louisiana, who was found not guilty by a jury, admitted last year that he was the triggerman.

Robert Marshall’s hearing before the full parole board is set for March.

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