Man again sentenced to life, no parole for 1996 decapitation

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A western 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.

WOOD-TV reports that 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.