California Supreme Court upholds death sentence in 2003 slaying of Oceanside police officer [Breaking]
The California Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for a North County man convicted of gunning down an Oceanside police officer during what started as a routine traffic stop in a busy parking lot nearly two decades ago.
Along with murder, the jury found two special-circumstance allegations to be true: that Camacho killed a police officer and that he did so to escape arrest.According to trial testimony and the Monday ruling, Zeppetella pulled up behind Camacho’s car in the parking lot of a Navy Federal Credit Union at Avenida de la Plata and College Boulevard in Oceanside.
As Zeppetella was trying to crawl away, witnesses testified that Camacho pistol whipped Zeppetella in the head, took the officer’s gun and shot him several more times with his own weapon. Camacho’s defense centered on his mental state during the shooting, which he argued was clouded by drug use. In addition to an ongoing heroin addiction, he had also been using methamphetamine and had been prescribed other drugs by a psychiatrist. The defense argued that this mix caused him to undergo “a period of delirium and psychosis” during the shooting, according to the ruling.
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Death sentence upheld for man convicted of killing Oceanside police officer -OCEANSIDE (KUSI) – The California Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of gunning down an Oceanside police officer nearly two decades ago. Adrian George Camacho, 47, was convicted of first-degree murder for the June 13, 2003, slaying of Officer Tony Zeppetella. According to the court’s ruling, Zeppetella was shot at least 13 times and pistol...
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