Man admits killing girlfriend

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The man accused of killing his girlfriend with a claw hammer at her Oceanside apartment pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder.

Wearing a blue jail jumpsuit and handcuffed to his chair, Eric Nathaniel "Nate" Marum, 26, spoke softly in response to a Superior Court judge's questions during a hearing Tuesday morning.

Marum faces 16 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced Feb. 2 for the Oct. 16, 2005, slaying of Nicole "Nicci" Sinkule, 25, at her North Nevada Street residence. He would have faced 26 years to life in prison if he had been convicted of first-degree murder.

Sinkule's autopsy showed she had a gaping hole and 13 impact holes in her head, an Oceanside police detective testified at a preliminary hearing.

A detective also wrote in a search warrant affidavit filed with the Superior Court that Marum admitted killing Sinkule, telling police he had thought about doing it for some time "because he felt she was evil."

Sinkule's mother, Claudia Sinkule, quietly cried and held a tissue to her nose Tuesday morning as Judge John Einhorn asked Marum about the "factual basis" for his guilty plea as written on a court form: that he unlawfully killed Sinkule with a hammer.

After the hearing, Nicole Sinkule's parents, Claudia and Glenn Sinkule, said Marum's guilty plea guarantees he will go to prison without any appeals and that the Sinkule family will do everything it can to make sure Marum stays in prison for the rest of his life.

"It (the guilty plea) is a for-sure thing that he's going to get prison time, and we're going to keep him in there as a family," Glenn Sinkule said. "The whole family is committed to going to every parole hearing."

Marum will become eligible for parole for the first time after he has served 16 years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Kelly Mok said.

Marum's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Dan Segura, said Marum's case should be used to tell other people not to use methamphetamines because they can ruin your life even if you have everything going for you and that the case shows the drugs are "evil."

"He (Marum) was sorry for what he'd done, and he understands it was a mistake, and but for him using methamphetamines, he wouldn't have taken her life and ruined his own," Segura said of Marum's reasons for pleading guilty. "He's truly sorry for everything that's happened."

Glenn Sinkule said he believes Marum had "plenty of chances" to go through drug rehab while he was out of jail before the killing but didn't do it, and that he will kill someone else if he is ever free again.

"We don't want that to happen," Glenn Sinkule said.

Marum's parents attended Tuesday's hearing but remained in the courtroom after the hearing ended. Segura said the couple did not want to make any comments about their son's case.

Segura has said previously that most of the issues at Marum's trial would not have been disputed, but that the case would have focused on Marum's mental state at the time of the killing.

Mok said Tuesday that a first-degree murder conviction requires proof that a suspect premeditated and deliberated before the killing and that jurors would have been allowed to consider the ingestion of drugs in deciding the case.

"We reached this plea agreement because it was the right thing, considering all of the circumstances and the facts," Mok said. "We guarantee that he goes to prison, hopefully for the rest of his life."

Marum graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in psychology and was working as a concrete finisher in construction at the time of the killing, Segura said.

Glenn Sinkule has said his daughter had taken classes at Grossmont and Mesa colleges while working as a waitress and hoped one day to become a nutritionist.

The relationship between Nicole Sinkule and Marum lasted more than a year but was plagued by incidents of domestic violence and Marum's methamphetamine use, according to court records.

Marum twice pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, including false imprisonment and vandalism, in connection with incidents of violence against Nicole Sinkule. He has also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor methamphetamine charges, and two weeks before Nicole Sinkule's death, pleaded guilty to possession of a methamphetamine pipe.

He was ordered to participate in drug programs for some of the convictions and was placed on probation and ordered to attend 10 Narcotics Anonymous meetings for the pipe charge, according to court records.

A protective order keeping Marum away from Nicole Sinkule was lifted just four months before the killing at a June 3, 2005, hearing at which Nicole Sinkule said she wanted to live with Marum.

Oceanside police were called to Sinkule's residence just three hours before she was slain because of an argument between Marum and Sinkule, but officers made no arrest because Sinkule told them no physical violence had occurred, a detective wrote in a search warrant affidavit filed with the court.

Glenn and Claudia Sinkule formed The Nicole Sinkule Foundation in honor of their daughter to combat domestic violence and methamphetamine use.
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Like no one else has ever had a girlfriend they thought was evil. I've had a few, but I never took a hammer to them.