Oceanside Police Officer Anthony Zeppetella

Cop Killer Adrian Camacho Sentenced To Death


SAN DIEGO - A judge sentenced an illegal Mexican immigrant with a criminal past to death Tuesday for killing a rookie Oceanside police officer during a routine traffic stop in 2003.

Adrian Camacho, a drug-addicted gang member, was convicted in November in the death of Officer Tony Zeppetella. Vista Superior Court Judge Joan Weber agreed with the jury's recommendation of death for Camacho, who had been deported twice for being in the United States illegally before the shooting.

Camacho, 30, did not make a statement before sentencing. He showed no emotion as Zeppetella's widow, Jamie, told the court that her son will only see his father in family albums.

"You took something you had no right to take," she told Camacho. "Because of you, I no longer get to see my husband's smile anymore, or hear his sweet voice."


Adrian Camacho, 29, is charged with killing Zeppetella. Camacho has four previous convictions and had been deported to Mexico three times.

Camacho will join the ranks of nearly 650 other prisoners on California's death row.

On June 13, 2003, Camacho was high on heroin and methamphetamine when he opened fire at Zeppetella in the parking lot of an Oceanside bank. A total of 34 rounds were exchanged and Zeppetella, a 27-year-old officer, was shot 13 times. Camacho fled in Zeppetella's squad car. Authorities arrested Camacho hours later at the home of his wife's family, where he had slit his wrists and scrawled "I'm sorry" in his own blood on bathroom tile.

During his trial, defense attorneys conceded that Camacho shot and killed Zeppetella, but maintained he suffered from mental illness stemming from years of heroin abuse. The defense argued that Camacho's actions the day of the shooting were not those of a sane man.

Prosecutors countered that Camacho shot Zeppetella because the ex-convict knew he would be caught with the gun and drugs in his car and did not want to return to prison.

Camacho, who immigrated to Oceanside from Mexico with his family, admitted that he joined a gang in his mid-teens had been in and out of prison since the 1990s on drug, weapons and attempted murder charges.

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But he's just a good hearted, willing worker looking for a better life for his family doing the jobs Americans are unwilling to do.