RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A jury on Tuesday found a fourth former Marine guilty in the killings of a Marine sergeant and his wife in their Southern California home in 2008.
Jurors reached the verdicts in the case of 27-year-old Kesaun Sykes after less than two hours of deliberations, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office said.
Sykes was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including murder during a robbery and rape by instrument, the office said.
The trial resumes Monday with a penalty phase for jurors to decide whether Sykes ought to be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.
Defense lawyer Doug Myers declined to comment while the case is in trial.
Sykes is one of four former Marines charged in the murders of Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, in October 2008. Two men were sentenced to death for the killings, and one was sentenced to life without parole.
The three other defendants had worked with Pietrzak while they were stationed at Camp Pendleton. Along with Sykes, they went to the couple’s home near Murrieta to rob them and forced their way inside, the district attorney’s office said.
The victims were found bound and shot in the head. Pietrzak was assaulted and his wife sexually assaulted before they were killed, the office said.
