A Point Loma man is facing a life sentence without the possibility of parole on June 22 following his guilty pleas in connection with the 2004 slayings of an Ocean Beach liquor store clerk and a mortgage broker.
Theron Lee Peters, 40, admitted his role as a getaway driver in the two 2004 slayings before San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Wellington on April 10.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Amador said the actual trigger man is co-defendant Tecumseh Nehemaiah Colbert, 23. Colbert is expected to stand trial May 11.
On Nov. 10, 2004, Richard Hammes, 45, was filling in as a clerk at the Prime Market Liquor, at 4161 Voltaire St., when a man wearing an “old man” Halloween mask demanded money.
Hammes didn’t open the cash register, at which time prosecutors say Colbert allegedly shot Hammes in the chest. Hammes died an hour later at the hospital.
According to Ã…mador, the store owner, Saad Ewdish, let Hammes live in a shed on the property.
Hammes reportedly was allowed to fill in as the liquor store clerk when Ewdish had to go home unexpectedly to care for his ill son.
Hammes, who had been in the Navy for 14 years, was known to local residents.
Local television newscasts repeatedly aired footage of the security camera’s video of the gunman as he fired a handgun.
Colbert faces the death penalty if convicted of killing Hammes and “” just 13 days earlier ” Robert McCamey, 32, of University City.
McCamey, a mortgage broker, was shot to death Oct. 29, 2004, at 12:05 a.m. in the Bay Terraces area during a carjacking attempt.
Colbert also is charged with special-circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders and murder during a robbery.
Peters pleaded guilty this month to all charges filed against him, said Amador.
They include two counts of first-degree murder, a special-circumstance allegation of murder during a robbery, two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery, kidnapping for robbery, carjacking and attempted carjacking.
A third victim was uninjured in El Cajon on Nov. 11, 2004, the day after Hammes murder, during another carjacking attempt.
The victim was allegedly kidnapped after Colbert and Peters reportedly robbed him when they responded to his newspaper ad that reflected he was seeking to sell his Cadillac.
Both Colbert and Peters are being held in the county jail without bail.