Nizer Marquise Bennett, already convicted in the 2022 killing of a Fort Bragg paratrooper, was back in a Durham courtroom on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, as he began a plea process in a separate 2022 slaying. Court records show Bennett is facing murder and conspiracy charges in the death of 20-year-old Marcus Ortega-Burch, and the hearing has been continued to June 3.
Plea hearing under way
According to CBS17, a plea hearing for Bennett opened Wednesday in Durham County Superior Court after court filings formally linked him to the Ortega-Burch killing. The filings state that Durham police charged Bennett in 2023 while he was already being held in Cumberland County. Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to return to court June 3, with the documents listing murder and conspiracy to murder among the counts against him.
Two 2022 killings now linked in court
Bennett's latest appearance in Durham stems from a separate case in which he was convicted in the killing of Sgt. Nicholas Antonio Bobo, a 22-year-old paratrooper assigned to Fort Bragg who was found shot outside his Fayetteville apartment in mid-September 2022, as reported by ABC11. Police arrested Bennett and co-defendant Timothy Renae Nava in the days after Bobo's death, and investigators said Bobo's vehicle was later recovered in Durham as part of the investigation. The death of Marcus Ortega-Burch along Kent Lake Drive on Sept. 8, 2022, was documented in reporting by WRAL.
Where the cases stand
Court filings reviewed by CBS17 show Bennett was convicted on March 5, 2025, of second-degree murder in Bobo's death and later received a 25-to-31-year prison sentence. The filings also state that Nava pleaded guilty on Dec. 5, 2024, to second-degree murder in connection with Bobo's killing and was sentenced to between 18 years and 22 years, eight months. The June 3 continuation of the Durham hearing will determine whether Bennett formally enters a plea in the Ortega-Burch case or whether the proceedings head toward trial.
