A West Michigan man has again been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing and decapitating a teen in 1996 and mutilating the head in front of a video camera. 39-year-old Federico Cruz learned his fate Wednesday in a Kent County courtroom. Cruz was 16 when 17-year-old David Crawford was suffocated. Crawford's head was cut off and later mutilated.
Cruz was convicted of murder and got the mandatory sentence after a jury rejected an insanity defense. Cruz and many Michigan juvenile lifers who are serving no-parole sentences are eligible for a new hearing because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. The television station reports that a judge told Cruz Wednesday that progress made in prison toward rehabilitation does not mitigate that he is a sociopath.
