GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A man who was found guilty of beheading a teenager in 1996 received a reduced sentence this week, prosecutors confirmed with FOX 17.
Federico Cruz, 44, was convicted of killing 17-year-old David Crawford and mutilating his head near Sparta in April 1996. He was 16 at the time.
Cruz was initially handed a life sentence but the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office tells us he was resentenced to a term of years Friday after a judge said Cruz made efforts to turn over a new leaf while in prison.
It’s not the first time Cruz’s sentence was reexamined. That happened in 2018 after a federal Supreme Court ruling, but his life sentence remained.
"The hardest part is the family, dealing with, you know, the mom and the sister were here for the two days of this hearing...the mom was here the last time," Prosecutor Chris Becker said. "I mean, this was a murder case back in '97. When you get a sentence of life without parole, you think, 'okay, great, I can put everything behind me.,' and, unfortunately, they've had to go through it again."
A new state Supreme Court ruling in 2022 determined it was unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life in prison without parole. That ruling prompted Cruz’s sentence to be reconsidered again Friday, this time resulting in a term of years.
"It just keeps on picking at an old wound that, you know, nobody should have to go through that— having their son murdered, especially in this brutal of a fashion where the head was cut off, and then every, you know, decade or so, it's all dredging this all up and having to go through this again. It's just gut-wrenching for the family," Becker said.
Becker tells us he lobbied for life without parole due to the horrific aspects of the murder.
"This was a difficult case. We knew that going in, in terms of the burden that we had and the way the state of the law is, but given the circumstances of this offense...probably one of the most egregious homicides we've ever had in this county, we felt this was a fight we had to make," Becker explained. "It didn't go in our favor but I think it was something we had to do."
The exact term of years is set to be determined on August 17. Cruz is expected to be resentenced to 40–60 years.
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