Kevin Cox, Tyrone Miller, Emrys John guilty of murdering fellow marine and wife in hate crime

Three former Marines tortured and killed a fellow Marine and his wife for money in a 2008 execution-style slaying in Southern California which racially motivated.

Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak

Two separate juries convicted three defendants of murder. Former private Kevin Cox, 25, was first to learn his fate, followed by the verdict read by a second jury convicting former Lance Cpl. Emrys John, 23, and former Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 25.

John was convicted of pulling the trigger. Miller was found guilty of murder and sexually-assaulting Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak. Racial slurs were painted on the walls and fires had been set to “destroy the evidence” but little else was reported.

A fourth suspect, former Lance Cpl. Kesaun Sykes of Fallbrook, had his case severed and is awaiting trial. Sykes was known as “Psycho” by fellow Marines.

Newlyweds Marine Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and his wife Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak were found gagged, tied and shot in the head in their Riverside County home in October 2008.

Sgt. Pietrzak, a helicopter airframe mechanic at MCAS Miramar near San Diego, was found bloody and beaten. His wife’s body was discovered naked. Officials say she had been sexually assaulted.

All three men worked with Sgt. Pietrzak at one time while stationed at Camp Pendleton.

“He was not the actual killer, he was not in my opinion a major participant obviously the jury disagreed with that assessment,” Cox’s attorney Ryan Markson said.

Markson hopes jurors will consider Cox’s rank at the time of the murders when deliberating his punishment.

“Because it was three armed Marines, two of whom outranked him and telling him we need to knock on these people’s door,” he said.

Pietrzak, 24, 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.

Jury recommends ex-Marine Kevin Cox, left, should get life in prison and ex-Marines Emyrs John and Tyrone Miller should get the death penalty.