NORFOLK, Va. — Jermiah Copeland was sentenced on June 9 to serve another 43 years in prison, on top of the year he's been held in the brig, for the murder of fellow sailor Angelina Resendiz at Naval Station Norfolk last May.
Copeland pleaded guilty to Resendiz's unpremeditated murder, describing in detail to the military court how he strangled her to death in his barracks, hid her body in a duffle bag, and then left her in the woods near a Norfolk school. He showed remorse in court and in a private meeting with Esmeralda Castle, Resendiz's mother, held at her request before the sentencing.
Watch our previous episode about the case of Resendiz
WTKR News 3 Norfolk reporter Jay Greene has been in court for every hearing on this case since Copeland first appeared before the judge. But the June hearings with the plea deal, sentencing, and testimony from numerous people who knew Angelina — and a few of Copeland's family — were by far the most emotional.
In court, discussions of Copeland's abuse as a child, his large family, his love of sports, and his own young child shed more light on the figure who has not been seen by the public since his arrest.
Castle spoke publicly about how her journey in accepting her daughter's death included a path toward forgiveness for her killer.
Norfolk
TIMELINE: Everything we know about the murder of Angelina Resendiz
Greene and host Jon Sham unpack everything we learned in the military court martial for Jermiah Copeland in the latest episode of the True Crime 757 podcast.
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True Crime 757 is sponsored by Korslund Law
