Convicted airman apologizes for killing couple

<p>A Robins Air Force Base airman convicted of murdering a fellow airman and his wife asked a military jury Monday to spare him from the death penalty.</p><p>"I am so sorry from the bottom of my being," Andrew Witt said, turning to look at relatives of Andrew and Jamie Schliepsiek, who were stabbed at their base residence the morning of July 5, 2004.</p><p>Jim Bielenberg, Jamie Schliepsiek's father, immediately stood and walked from the courtroom in the Bibb County Courthouse, where the court martial is being held.</p><p>The jury convicted the 23-year-old avionics specialist last week of murdering the couple and of attempted murder in the stabbing of Staff Sgt. Jason King. The same jury of Air Force officers now must decide whether to sentence Witt to die.</p><p>Witt also submitted a written statement asking the jury for life in prison.</p><p>"I know that my crime is monstrous and that most of you may think that I am evil for what I have done," he wrote. "I look at my own hands sometimes and wonder how I could have done those things.</p><p>"Give me the chance to rebuild a life, no matter how basic it will be as a life in prison, and do something constructive to make up in some small way for the destruction I have caused," the statement said.</p><p>Earlier, Witt's mother, Melanie Pehling, also asked the jury to spare him.</p><p>"We are asking for mercy because I know underneath ... I know that there's more that this kid can offer than what happened," said said.</p><p>Prosecutors said Witt killed the couple after they threatened to report that he had made a pass at Jamie Schliepsiek and had an affair with an officer's wife.</p><p>Witt's lawyers did not dispute that he stabbed the couple but contended that the killings were not planned. Prosecutors said Witt changed into a camouflage uniform, armed himself with a combat knife and spied on his victims before stabbing all three.</p><p>Pehling, of West Salem, Wisc., said she could tell in a phone call from Witt that he had been drinking. Otherwise, she said, her son seemed to be making good choices in his life.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc3e0)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/10/137820