SPOKANE, Wash. — Vulgar words flew across a Spokane County courtroom Tuesday as Justin Crenshaw received the same sentence he got nearly two decades ago: life in prison without parole.
Crenshaw murdered two young people in North Spokane in 2008. He brutally stabbed 18-year-old Mead High schooler Sarah Clark and her friend, 20-year-old Tanner Pehl, mutilated their bodies, posed them with swords, and set the house on fire to cover up the crime. The victims had known Crenshaw for just two weeks.
Crenshaw also killed his cellmate while serving time.
A 2021 Washington law change allowed Crenshaw to challenge his life sentence. The law says offenders between 18 and 21 cannot get a fixed life sentence. Since he was 20 during the crime, he could be resentenced.
Over two days, Judge Dean Chuang heard from victims’ families, Crenshaw’s mother, his fiancé, and Crenshaw himself. Before his outbursts, Crenshaw explained why he believed he deserved a reduced sentence.
“I want to express my deepest sincere and remorse to the families of Sarah and Tanner,” Crenshaw said. “When this event occurred I was young, immature, uneducated and unknowingly damaged from childhood trauma that caused me to live with PTSD.”
The judge didn’t buy Crenshaw’s remorse and growth in prison.
“If Mr. Crenshaw is released, he will kill again or at the very least, injure people,” Judge Chuang said.
Prosecutor Dara Schroeter said Crenshaw’s crimes showed “not a failure to appreciate the risks and consequences, but a failure to appreciate the value of human life.”
After receiving his sentence, Crenshaw cursed at the judge and was removed from the courtroom.
“Don’t forget to wipe your a** with that, your honor,” Crenshaw said as deputies escorted him out.
Judge Chuang called a recess.
The court brought Crenshaw back for fingerprinting in front of the victims’ families, who thought they’d never have to see him again. During the fingerprinting, Crenshaw looked at cameras and claimed the judge lied, saying he would get a retrial.
“Everything will be okay. Justice will come. Fairness will be there,” Crenshaw said.
For two years, the families lived in limbo, wondering if their loved ones’ killer would get a lighter sentence. The process forced them to relive their trauma all over again, only for it to end the same way it did in 2010.
“Yeah, it was brutal going through all this,” said Teesha Clark, Sarah’s mother.
Steve Clark, Sarah’s father, said the experience will stay with him. “It’s going to be a loop in my mind of these past two days. And when that will end, I don’t know.”
The families hope they won’t have to go through this process again.
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