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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
DEATH
From page 1A
Justice on direct appeal
where the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Armed
Forces has conducted a man
datory review. One example
of such a mandatory review
for the CAAF is all death
penalty cases.
The President of the
United States personally
authorizes all military death
penalties, and can commute
the sentence to life with
out parole, Robb said, as
the governor can do in state
cases.
Witt is the only Air Force
member sitting on death
row at Fort Leavenworth
prison in Kansas. Witt's
death sentence is the first
Air Force death sentence
since the United States vs.
Jose Simoy in 1992, which
on appeal was set aside, and
Simoy is currently serving a
life sentence.
There are currently nine
soldiers on death row, includ
ing Witt. The last execu
tion was in 1961. U.S. Army
Pvt. John A. Bennett was
hanged April 13, 1961 after
being convicted of rape and
attempted murder. Of the
135 executed sinpe 1916,
none were from the Air
Force.
Witt will spend the
rest of his life at the U.S.
PERMITS
From page 1A
two other home occupations,
which also passed, then
attention was turned to the
subject of mining regulation,
also proposed by Andrews.
Currently, mining in
Houston is allowed in both
residential and agricultural
areas, something Andrews
said was a serious problem.
He proposed mining be lim
ited to industrial districts.
Most outspokenly, Vice
Chairman Tom McMichael
agreed, adding, “We need
regulations, and this should
have been addressed a long
time ago,” and the change
was approved unanimously
by the commission.
Other notable decisions
were made in the area of
traffic safety.
MORE
From page 1A
stores. Sites being consid
ered by potential buyers
include the Booth Road area
and those formerly belong
ing to big-box retail centers.
The board was unable to
estimate just how long any
industrial deals would take,
saying such projects can
range between “a matter of
months to never.”
Regardless, Law said
he believed the industrial
growth to be well worth the
wait.
“It’s more than just
recruiting a company that
has 100 jobs,” he said. “It’s
much greater, and that’s
why these manufacturing
jobs have the most substan
tial economic impact.”
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Disciplinary Barracks Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, dur
ing the appeals, with his
execution, by lethal injection
to be administered there by
Army personnel.
At the trial, Witt apolo
gized to the victims and
their families in spoken and
unsworn statements - not
under oath and not sub
ject at cross-examination.
“To the Schliepsiek and
Bielenberg families, I’m so,
so sorry, from the bottom of
my being fro taking you son
and daughter. To Mr. King, I
so sorry I hurt you.”
In his 4-page written
unsworn statement, entered
as defense exhibit BS during
the trial, Witt also accepted
his fate and his family was
planning to move to Kansans
to be closer to him. “Most
of the time,” Witt said, “I
am certain that I would
prefer to get death rather
than spend 50 to 60 years in
prison until I died. I cannot
imagine what it will be like
sitting through each day and
night as I reflect on what I
did - after over 15 months of
doing that already, I have no
doubt that it will be a severe
punishment.”
Witt said he also realized
“that if I get a death sen
tence my family will lose any
hope in seeing me and watch
me redeem myself in some
way. Because of that I ask
you to please consider giv
ing me a life sentence rather
than death.”
Commissioner Larry
Thomson requested the
placement of a new stop
sign at the intersection of
Abercorn and Broughton
in Warner Robins, saying
speeding traffic entering
from Lake Joy Road sight
problems and confusion over
the right-of-way there, were
dangers that needed to be
addressed.
“There’s two stop signs
there, but I think we need
another one,” Thomson said
following the meeting. “By
making a three-way stop,
the sight problem has been
taken care of.”
He also recommended a
reduced speed limit of 30
mph on Katherine Biles
Road something senior citi
zens in that area were said
to strongly support. The
commissioners agreed with
Thomson, and both requests
were passed unanimously.
y*-
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His mother and stepfather
also unsuccessfully asked
the members for mercy.
“We’re trusting, praying
mercy will given. That’s
all we ask for,” said Greg
Pehling.
His mother Melanie
Pehling said, “We are asking
for mercy. I know this kid
has more to offer than what
happened that night of July
4th.”
On that night Witt dressed
in his battle dress uniform
(BDU’s), put a combat knife
in the trunk of his car, drove
onto the base, parked a
few blocks away from the
Schliepsiek home, ran to
King’s house, saw the three
victims leaving and followed
on foot to the Schliepsiek
home and watched them for
a while.
He then pushed open the
front door, stabbed Andy
Schliepsiek once, stabbed
King once as he had Witt in
a headlock, the chased King
out of the house and stab
bing him twice more in the
back.
Witt then went back in
the house, stabbed Andy
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Schliepsiek again, paralyz
ing him and attacked Jamie
Schliepsiek, chasing her
down the hall, forcing open
the bedroom door, stabbing
her several times as she
fought back. He left her for
dead and finished Andy off,
stabbing him through the
heart.
Witt then ran back to his
car, hiding the knife near a
tree on his way, left the base,
threw away his bloodied hat
and boots in a dumpster by
a day care center, went home
and changed.
The Schliepsieks’ bodies
were discovered by security
forces early that morning
at their base home. King
colapes in a neighbor’s yard,
after running toward the
nearest proch light for help.
Robins officials said the
killings are the first in the
base’s 60-year history.
Witt, 22 at the time, was
apprehended on base that
'evening by Air Force Office
of Special Investigations
agents near the crime scene
after returning to the base
with a friend. He was held
in pretrial detention at the
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Houston COnty jail and has
been at Levenworth since
his conviction in October.
Witt has been in the Air
Force since Nov. 27,2001 and
is an avionics technician in
the 116th Air Control Wing,
to which he was assigned on
Aug. 26, 2002, Robins offi
cials said.
King, was assigned
to the 53rd Combat
Communications Squadron
of the sth Combat
Communications Group at
Robins. Schliepsiek also of
the sth was a member of
the 54th CCS. Schliepsiek
arrived at Robins three
years ago for his first opera
tional assignment. He was
a ground radar mainte
nance technician and had
deployed to Iraq from March
to September of 2003.
The charges against Witt
were filed under Article
118 of the Uniform Code
of Military Justice by his
squadron commander, Lt.
Col. David B. Milner. The
maximum penalty under
Article 118 is death.
It took the 12 officers, the
members of the court, eight
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and half hours over three
days to decide on the verdict
in the sentencing of Witt
in the death penalty court
martial. “All votes were
unanimous,” the president
of the panel, Col. Eriksen,
told the court, for the death
sentence, as were the votes
to convict.
The 12 members of the
panel were identified only
by rank and last name as
Ist Lt. Albertsen, Capt.
Russell, Capt. Branson,
Major Straughan, Lt. Col.
Koerkenmeier, Lt. Col
Wilford, Lt. Col. Hess,
Lt. Col, Rowlands, Col.
Sharpless, Col. Holcomb,
Col. Tufts and Col. Eriksen.
Eriksen told the judge
“The panel found the five
aggravating factors - one or
more murders; murder com
mitted during a burglary or
forced entry into the home;
the murders caused sub
stantial and physical and
emotional suffering for the
victims agony, the suffering
was prolonged and that they
substantially outweighed
the mitigating factors in the
case.
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