SPOKANE, Wash. — A killer who stabbed two young people to death in 2008, posed their bodies with swords and torched the house is waiting to see if his life sentence could be reduced by a Spokane judge this week.

Justin Crenshaw, now 37, appeared in Spokane County court Monday as families of his victims pleaded with the judge to maintain his original life sentence.

Crenshaw was 20 when he killed 18-year-old Sarah Clark and 20-year-old Tanner Pehl in North Spokane nearly two decades ago.

Tuesday's hearing is what victim families hoped would never become reality - reliving the traumatic experience and facing the possibility that Crenshaw could walk free someday.

"Reducing this sentence, judge, would diminish the weight of lives lost," said Laurie, Tanner Pehl's mother, during her victim i

See Full Page