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| Maricopa County inmate sentenced to death |
| By azcentral.com |
| Published: 11/18/2009 |
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A white supremacist was sentenced to death Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court for the May 2008 murder of a fellow inmate in the Fourth Avenue Jail. Pete Van Winkle, 27, was caught on surveillance tape as he beat and strangled Robert Cotton to death. A jail detention officer then saw Van Winkle drag Coton's body out of a cell and attempt to throw it over a second-floor railing in the jail. Van Winkle testified that he acted in self defense because Cotton had struck him first, but the jurors did not buy that argument and instead found him guilty. And on Tuesday, they sentenced him death. After the verdict, Van Winkle called out "I love you," to his family as he was led from the courtroom. Cotton's mother, Kaye Cotton, was pensive as she talked about her son "Robbie" after the sentencing. "Nobody really won," she said. "There's one man who's going to die, and one man who's already dead. Two families are suffering." According to court testimony, Van Winkle supposedly killed Cotton for snitching on a fellow member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Cotton, 27, had been jailed on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle. A civil suit against the county stemming from the slaying was settled for $500,000. Read More. |
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