SAN DIEGO -- A Miramar-based Marine who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for strangling his 19-year-old wife of two months while she slept in the Mira Mesa apartment is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. Lance Cpl. Patrick Thomas Poteat, a 22-year-old electronics technician, killed Kalyn O'Barr-Poteat on Jan. 5 and then tried to slit his wrists but was unsuccessful. After leaving a confession on the refrigerator, he fled to Joshua Tree, where he was arrested. Poteat is expected to receive 15 years to life in prison Wednesday.
San Diego police Detective Mike Holden testified during an earlier hearing that Poteat told investigators he used an electrical cord to strangle his wife while she was in bed, and that she woke up and said, "I can't breathe. I can't breathe," but he continued the attack. "He said he never should have done that," Holden testified. "He didn't know why he did it. Then he said he murdered her." Poteat also said that while he was in Georgia for Christmas, his wife sent him text messages saying she was going to leave him, according to Holden, who also testified that the defendant didn't like that his wife made a living as a stripper. 10news.com
And they chose the Marine Corps' birthday to report this why? Oh, wait, let's fuck up their birthday with stories of the bad ones, even those comprise such a small percentage. Bastards.