A Douglas man with a long and troubling military background is guilty of second-degree murder for shooting his cousin to death last year, a trial jury ruled Friday evening.
The charge is punishable by between 20 years and life in prison.
The verdict for Mark Helms, 44, came after a weeklong trial in Converse County District Court in Douglas. The main argument was whether he was mentally competent enough to rationalize what he was doing the night of Sept. 13, 2023, when he shot his cousin Nicholas Velazquez to death.
Velazquez was 38.
The pair were drinking together in Helms’ home that night.
Helms later told investigators that his memory blacked out, and the next thing he remembered was performing CPR on Velazques.
Shot In The Chest
Converse County Sheriff’s Lt. Benjamin Peech was not persuaded by this, writing in the affidavit, “Mark (Helms) made additional contradictory statements to me about his memory of the events, including admissions that he had in fact fired the gun, but had been scared and unaware of who he was shooting at when he fired the gun.”
Helms came running into his bedroom and grabbed his rifle that night, his wife told investigators at the time.
Peech found Velazquez dead, lying on his back on the hallway floor outside Helms’ master bedroom with a single gunshot wound in his chest, according to the case affidavit.
The chief argument in court this week was that Helms’ post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) from years of military service and several battle deployments damaged him mentally, Pam McCullough, Converse County District Court Clerk, related to Cowboy State Daily on Friday evening.
In an Army career that lasted almost his entire adult life, Helms had been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and various other places, Helms’ friend Cecil Coplan told Cowboy State Daily in August.
He was also sent to ground zero after the World Trade Center collisions of 9/11 to recover a dead body.
“Everyone comes back a little different (after) seeing bodies and body parts and all that,” said Coplan.
What The Jury Chose
Converse County Chief Deputy Attorney Shawn Wilde charged Helms with first-degree murder in September 2023.
The jury had an option to convict Helms on first-degree murder, McCullough said. They also had options for second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
In terms of sentencing, the difference between the three is huge. First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison (and sometimes the death penalty, but that’s extremely rare), while second-degree has a 20-year minimum. And manslaughter is punishable by no more than 20 years in prison.
After deliberating for roughly three-and-a-half hours, the jury chose second-degree murder, which means the jurors believe Helms killed Velazquez purposefully and maliciously, but without premeditation.
Sentencing will happen at a later date.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
