‘If you want to laugh at me, I’ll f—ing kill you’: Fremont man pleads no contest to murder during trial

DUBLIN — Just a few days into his murder trial, a Fremont man changed course, pleading no contest to killing a man behind a grocery store with the expectation to be sentenced to life in prison, court records show.

Marquice McClinton, 38, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the Oct. 25, 2023 killing of Marcos Chisley. According to police and eyewitness testimony, McClinton killed Chisley near some dumpsters behind a Smart & Final in Fremont, then rode his bicycle to a friend’s home and made a chilling confession.

“That (expletive) started laughing at me. If you want to laugh at me, I’ll f—ing kill you,” McClinton allegedly told his friend and the friend’s girlfriend, according to the woman’s testimony in his 2024 preliminary hearing. McClinton later reportedly recalled how Chisley “started gurgling” before he died. He allegedly said, “I shot his a–,” then added, “That’s number 10,” the woman said on the stand.

Then a gun fell out of his bag, she testified.

“I freaked out,” she said on the witness stand, adding that McClinton appeared to be high on Xanax at the time.

McClinton was set to go to trial this month. His attorney had filed court papers indicating the defense would seek to blame a man and woman who were arrested in the investigation, around the same time as McClinton. The woman was suspected of setting up Chisley to be shot, and both were “potentially accomplices or actual perpetrators,” the lawyer wrote. Both were listed as potential prosecution witnesses.

Instead, on April 22, McClinton pleaded no contest to murder and an enhancement, with a listed sentence of 29 years to life, according to his change-of-plea form. He is set to be sentenced on May 19, and in the meantime he will remain at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

McClinton was arrested about two weeks after the murder. Police say he led them on a short foot pursuit on the day they detained him.