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Man who killed 4 people in Omaha sentenced to death

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man convicted of killing four people in Omaha in 2013 was sentenced to death Tuesday by a three-judge panel.
The panel issued its ruling in the case of Nikko Jenkins, who was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder for the August 2013 shooting deaths.

The judicial panel had the option of sentencing Jenkins to death or life in prison. The judges cited the heinous nature of the killings in their decision.

Jenkins pleaded no contest in 2014, but his sentencing has been delayed for years because of concerns about his mental competency. His defense psychiatrist said Jenkins suffers from schizophrenia and perhaps a bipolar disorder.

Defense lawyers have noted Jenkins' habit of tattooing his face and self-mutilation while in prison, as well as his ramblings in court, as proof of a deteriorating mental state.

State psychiatrists, however, have repeatedly declared that Jenkins is sane and testified during the case that he is faking mental illness.

Just 11 days after his release from prison, where he had been for 10 years for two carjackings, Jenkins shot and killed Juan Uribe-Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruizon on Aug. 11, 2013.

Prosecutors say eight days later, Jenkins and his sister killed Curtis Bradford, a one-time prison acquaintance. Then, on Aug. 21, police say, Jenkins pulled Andrea Kruger from her SUV as she drove home from work and shot her four times before speeding off in her vehicle.

Prosecutors argued that Jenkins planned the killings to cover up robberies of the victims or to keep them from identifying him, but Jenkins insisted an Egyptian god ordered him in a foreign language to kill the four as human sacrifices.

Jenkins was ultimately found competent to stand trial and allowed to represent himself for much of it. He was then allowed in 2014 to plead no contest to the murder charges. A no-contest plea acknowledges there is sufficient evidence to convict but is not an admittance of guilt.