Wednesday, June 29, 2005
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30029Okinawa sailor sentenced to 65 years for murder
Second Camp Hansen dental technician admits to role in slaying
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Trembling with each word, Seaman Tiffany Brooks found it hard to apologize in court Monday to the family of the friend she murdered in February.
“What I done was undeserving,” Brooks sobbed as she stood, her written statement shaking in her hand. “It was uncalled for.”
Brooks, 21, a dental technician from Carthage, Miss., was sentenced to life in prison without parole for her part in the Feb. 2 slaying of Seaman Adam Palecco. She pleaded guilty in Keystone Judicial Circuit Court to murder, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice. The plea was part of a pretrial agreement that saved her from a death sentence.
In her stipulation of facts, answers to Daugherty’s questions and a video re-enactment she made of the crime, Brooks said she plotted with two other dental technicians to kill Palecco, 21, because they feared he was going to inform on their shoplifting ring. The trio lured Palecco to a darkened area of Camp Hansen at night. Seaman Audley Evans II, 20, of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., grabbed Palecco from behind and slashed his throat, Brooks said. Then she and Seaman Robert Person Jr., 19, of Turrell, Ark., took turns stabbing their co-worker. All four were assigned to the Camp Hansen Dental Clinic.