WACO, Texas (AP) - A Southeast Texas man who met his wife as a pen pal while he was in prison has been sentenced to death for killing her a few months after his release.
A jury in Waco on Tuesday decided Carnell Petetan (PET’-uh-tahn) Jr. of Port Arthur should be executed for the September 2012 shooting death of his estranged wife, Kimberly.
Jurors on April 21 convicted Petetan of capital murder in the slaying during an argument at the woman’s Waco apartment. Investigators say Petetan then abducted his wife’s daughter. The then-9-year-old girl was rescued in Bryan.
Prosecutors say Petetan was serving nearly 20 years in prison for attempted murder when he met his wife in 2009 as a pen pal. They wed the following year. Petetan was released in early 2012.
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