California – A former marine has been sentenced to death for being his part in the murder of an Iraq veteran and his wife only two months after they got married.
Kesaun Kedron Sykes, 27, was convicted in August for killing Sergeant Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, in 2008.
The Iraq vet forced to watch as his wife was *by four men, one of them Skyes, before they were were both shot in the head by their attackers.
He said: ‘He earned his place on death row. If people are still alive, and you’re trying to burn the house down on top of them, obviously, you are in, you are in all the way.’
Sykes’ lawyer, Doug Myers, said he recognizes the loss and pain suffered by the victims’ loved ones, but Sykes did not deserve the death sentence.He claims that his client was outside the home when the killings occurred.
When Skyes was found guilty, jurors recommended that he be sentenced to death for the violent crime. Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Daniel DeLimon told the Fresno Bee that Sykes participated in the sexual assault and began trying to set fire to the home before the couple were killed.