A man has been sentenced to serve up to 15 years in prison for beating his friend to death with a metal pole.
Christopher Allen Hewitt, 19, appeared in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court on Thursday where he was ordered to serve 1-to-15 years in prison for first-degree felony murder, and five years for aggravated assault. The sentences will run concurrently, the judge ruled.
Court minutes indicated Hewitt was ordered to be committed to the state mental hospital for treatment.
He beat 19-year-old Benjamin Perkins-Link to death on a trail in Neff's Canyon in August 2007 in what police said was apparently a random attack. Another friend, who was wounded, fled and called police.
Hewitt later turned himself in to authorities.
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— Ben Winslow