‘They were both…trying to get control of the firearm’: Oakland man gets 6 years in 2022 homicide

OAKLAND — The suspect in a 2022 Oakland killing has accepted a plea deal and been sentenced to six years behind bars, court records show.

Donald Marler, 31, was transferred to North Kern State Prison on Jan. 7, two months after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 38-year-old Nicholas Lord. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors threw out a murder charge, court records show.

At Marler’s preliminary hearing last April, a woman who was one of Lord’s roommates testified that the two men started arguing about a stolen car inside their shared residence on June 7, 2022. She said she lived in behind a foam wall that separated her area from the living room in the home on the 11000 Novelda Drive in Oakland, and either saw or heard everything that happened. She didn’t go into detail about the argument, saying she didn’t want to repeat negative things about Lord, according to a transcript of the hearing.

At some point, the argument turned into a fight and a gun was pulled, she testified, though she said she didn’t see who pulled it first.

“They were both kind of, like, trying to get control of the firearm,” she said, adding that she fled from her area just before hearing a gunshot. She said she couldn’t bear to stay in the residence after Lord was killed, and moved out a little while later.

“I could still see that stain on the floor where his body was,” she testified.

On cross-examination, the woman said she had “a couple” arrest warrants at the time but still cooperated with police.

After the shooting, Marler stole Lord’s wife’s car, a Yukon XL, and drove away, the woman said. Police in Elk Grove say he was arrested there for evading police days after the homicide, with the suspected murder weapon. He served time in prison for the chase, then was charged with murdering Lord in 2024, court records show.

At the preliminary hearing, Marler’s lawyer argued the woman’s testimony wasn’t credible and attempted to question the lead investigator about his work with then-Oakland police Det. Phong Tran, who was charged in 2023 with perjury and bribery of witnesses. Judge Clifford Blakely sustained a prosecution objection that the Tran-related questions were irrelevant.

Marler gets credit for the time he spent behind bars while the case was pending.

An online fundraiser for Lord describes him as the “sole provider” for his wife and three children, one of whom was getting ready to start college when he was killed.

“Nick was one of the most loyal friends anyone could have. The type of friend you could call anytime day or night. He would be there with a laugh in his smile,” the fundraiser says. “He was man that would do anything for his family.”