The father of a 14-year-old boy charged with murder in the July killing of a Denver bar bouncer was arrested Friday and accused of driving his son to Wyoming to hide out after the killing, police records show.
Steven Marquez, 46, was held for investigation on the felony charges of being an accessory to a crime and attempting to influence a public servant, according to online records with Denver County Court.
Denver police allege he helped his son avoid arrest and lied to investigators following the July 10 fatal shooting at the Federales Denver bar at 29th and Larimer streets in the River North Arts District, according to an affidavit filed against him.
Marquez’s son, who The Denver Post is not naming because he is a juvenile, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 49-year-old William “Todd” Kidd, a bouncer at the bar.
Kidd was intervening in a disturbance when he was shot, police have said. He died two days later on July 12.
Marquez’s son, who turned 15 on Monday, was arrested on July 16 in Casper, Wyoming. He’d shaved his head “in an apparent effort to disguise” himself, according to the affidavit.
Marquez’s phone records show he drove to Wyoming on July 14 and spent about an hour near Casper before driving back to Denver, according to the nine-page affidavit, which police heavily redacted. A relative of Marquez’s lives in the area, police said.
Marquez told police that his son would turn himself in but not until the boy spoke with journalists, because there was video of the killing that “the world needs to see,” according to the affidavit. Neither he nor his son showed up to an arranged meeting with police to turn his son in on July 13, according to the affidavit.
Marquez on Wednesday told The Post he’d seen a video that shows his son acted in self-defense during the shooting. He believes the charges against him are an attempt by police to retaliate over that video, and said that he’d planned on helping his son turn himself in after the killing. He could not immediately provide the video to The Post.
“The only thing I’m guilty of, if they want to say I’m guilty of anything, is being a dad,” Marquez said. “I don’t know what is going on. But my intention was to turn my son in.”
Marquez was arrested Friday and released Sunday on $2,000 bail, court records show. The two charges he was arrested on are low-level felonies. He is next due in court Oct. 14. His son is scheduled appear in court Oct. 15.
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