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Death penalty sought against 4 Marines

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Prosecutors said Wednesday they are seeking the death penalty for four Camp Pendleton-based Marines, including one from North Carolina, charged in the execution-style killings of a fellow serviceman and his wife.

Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, were found gagged, tied and shot in the head Oct. 15 in the living room of their Winchester home. Investigators said the house had been ransacked and a fire had been set, an apparent effort to destroy evidence.

The four defendants are eligible for the death penalty because of the multiple murder and other special circumstance charges they face on top of their first-degree murder charges, Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said.

“The absolute innocence of a beautiful, loving couple compared to the savagery of the actions of these four equally responsible defendants leads to one conclusion — that this is a death penalty case,” Pacheco said in a statement.

The defendants’ attorneys did not immediately return messages Wednesday night.

Pietrzak, who was born in Poland and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., joined the Marines in 2003 and served in Iraq from July 2005 to February 2006.

He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, where he worked as a helicopter airframe mechanic and supervised two of the defendants.

Quiana worked for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

The defendants include Lance Cpl. Emrys John, 19, of Maryland; Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 21, of North Carolina; Pvt. Kevin Cox, 21, of Tennessee, and Lance Cpl. Kesaun Sykes, 21, of California.

Miller, Cox and Sykes told police they went to the home to rob Pietrzak. All four said his wife was sexually assaulted, according to an investigator’s affidavit.

The Marines’ special-circumstance allegations also include murder for financial gain, robbery, burglary and rape by foreign object

John, whom prosecutors believe shot the couple, is also charged with a special-circumstance allegation of using a firearm to inflict great bodily injury or death.