STAFF REPORTS

Image Courtesy: Victims Families For The Death Penalty)

Riverside – On Fri., Nov. 7, a Riverside County Superior Court judge sentenced a man to death for the 2009 murders of a United States Marine Corps Sergeant, and his wife, in their home near Murrieta.

Kesaun Kedron Sykes, 27, was convicted by a Riverside County jury on Aug. 5, and that same jury decided on Aug 21 that Sykes should be put to death. Judge Christian Thierbach rendered that death sentence Nov. 7.

Sykes is the fourth and final man to be convicted of the murders of U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant, Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, who were found murdered in their home in the unincorporated area of Winchester-French Valley, near Murrieta.

Three of the four men were sentenced to death, while the fourth was sentenced by a jury to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sykes was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, and jurors also found true the special circumstances of murder during the commission of a robbery, during the commission of a burglary, rape by instrument, and multiple murders.

In June 2013, two separate Riverside County juries found Kevin Cox, 26, Emrys John, 25, and Tyrone Miller, 27, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and also found true the special circumstances of murder during the commission of a robbery, during the commission of a burglary and multiple murders. John and Miller had one jury, and Cox had a separate jury. Those same jurors decided during the penalty phase of the trial that John and Miller should be put to death and that Cox should receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. All three were sentenced in 2013 by Judge Thierbach.

In October 2008, Jan Pietrzak and Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak were found bound and both had been shot in the head. Cox, John, and Miller all worked with Sgt. Pietrzak at one time as Marines while stationed at Camp Pendleton. Cox, John, Miller and Sykes went to the Pietrzak home to rob the victims, and then forced their way inside. Pietrzak was physically assaulted and his wife was sexually assaulted before both were murdered.

This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney, Daniel DeLimon.