Community Corner
3 Ex-Camp Pendleton Marines Found Guilty of Murdering Marine Sgt. and Wife
Kevin Cox, Tyrone Miller and Emrys John reportedly shot the newly married couple in the head execution-style after raping Jenkins-Pietrzak in the Pietrzak family home.
By Beth Ford Roth, KPBS
Two separate Riverside County juries found three ex-Camp Pendleton Marines guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal killings of MCAS Miramar Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, in 2008.
The Associated Press reports Kevin Cox, 25, Tyrone Miller, 25 and Emrys John, 22, shot the newly-married couple in the head execution-style after raping Jenkins-Pietrzak in the Pietrzak family home.
According to CBSLA.com:
Both panels also found true special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the killings occurred in the course of a robbery and a burglary. Miller was additionally convicted of forced sexual penetration with a foreign object, and John’s jury found true a sentence-enhancing allegation of discharging a firearm to produce great bodily injury.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel DeLimon said the crime was more than about burglary:
“This was about having the power to see the fear in somebody’s eyes. It’s about taking pleasure in the sexual humiliation of a woman and tormenting her husband by making him watch."
The penalty phase of the trial is slated to begin Monday. All three defendants face the death penalty.
Kesaun Sykes, another ex-Camp Pendleton Marine, is awaiting trial on his alleged involvement in the murders.
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