Convicted of 2008 double murder, Justin Crenshaw will be resentenced as victims’ families face agony of a return to court

Three families split by their own version of grief had to face a day they thought they’d never have to revisit in court : Feb. 28, 2008.

It was the day 20-year-old Tanner Pehl and 18-year-old Mead High School student Sarah Clark were found stabbed to death in a north Spokane home at 512 Elm Road. They had been mutilated, disfigured and purposefully positioned with swords sticking out of their bodies. Blood soaked the floor and walls, family pictures were taken off the walls and methodically placed upside down, and the home was intentionally set on fire.

Justin Crenshaw, a then-20-year-old transplant from Las Vegas, was arrested and charged with their murders. He was found guilty following a three-week trial in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The victims’ families thought the most tragic chapter of their lives would be closed so they could grieve.

While they were measuring their lives in time before and after the loss of their children, their brother or their sister, Crenshaw’s life was now measured by the hours in his cell.

But after a 2021 Washington Supreme Court ruling found mandatory life sentences for those between 18 and 20 were unconstitutional due to their young age, Crenshaw’s attorney found an opportunity: His defense team filed a motion two years ago to seek a new, likely lesser sentence than what was handed to him 15 years ago.

Under the ruling, he, at the very least, must be granted the chance. And it all started in a courtroom this week in a sentencing proceeding continuing Tuesday.

“Never in my imagination did I think, 17 years ago, that I would be back here,” said Sarah Clark’s father, Steve Clark, during a statement to the court. “I didn’t want to bring this all back up … Being in this courtroom again, ‘surreal’ is the only word I can think of.”

It’s unclear how Crenshaw, now 37 years old, remembers that night. But the families, who reopened their wounds to be at his resentencing Monday, refused to let him forget it. Some referred to him as a monster, a psychopath, evil, a “plague on society.”

Crenshaw, in handcuffs, stared back at them from his table. It was purposefully empty of any pens or other objects he could reach.

“Can you look at Tanner’s picture?” Laurie Jennings, Tanner Pehl’s mother, asked Crenshaw.

Crenshaw told her he would. He briefly moved to face a cardboard cutout of Pehl and a posterboard full of photos of Clark in front of his table.

“Well, I appreciate you looking at him,” Jennings said. “Because you’re the last thing he saw before he died.”

Crenshaw moved to Spokane all those years ago to stay with family, court records say. He got a job at the same steakhouse where Tanner Pehl worked. Pehl, being friendly, knew Crenshaw was struggling with sobriety and other problems with the law from Las Vegas, so Pehl “took him under his wing,” the family said.

About the same time, a Crenshaw family member introduced him to a mutual friend: Sarah Clark. The two began casually seeing each other, according to court records.

On the night of Feb. 27, Crenshaw took Clark to his newfound friend Tanner Pehl’s home to hang out and drink. No one knows what happened next – detectives suggested at the time that maybe Crenshaw was jealous of Pehl and Clark interacting.

When detectives found the clothes Crenshaw wore during the slayings, they also found a clue: a plastic container with bloody jeans, black Nike shoes and a belt with the words “Trust no one, broken hearts and knives.” That belt belonged to Crenshaw.

His defense attorney claimed before trial Crenshaw had a rare disorder that causes bizarre and often violent behavior after ingesting alcohol. This was exhibited in his past behaviors, especially violent and rebellious behavior as a juvenile, experts said at the time.

Either way, he knew what he was doing and likely did it with intent, Washington’s Forensic Mental Health Services Doctor William Grant testified Monday. Crenshaw stabbed Clark almost 30 times, nearly decapitating her, and Pehl was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and head, and pinned to the ground with a sword.

Crenshaw was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, found within only 3-4% of the general population. It most often coincides with psychopathy, he said, and common symptoms are law-breaking, impulsivity, aggression and reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Crenshaw has 18 serious infractions on his record from his time incarcerated, assaulted one inmate and killed a cellmate in Virginia state prison after he was transferred since he could no longer be safely housed in Washington. Most of his infractions involve sharp objects or razorblades.

“In layman’s language,” Grant said, “the guy with an antisocial personality disorder is a guy without a conscience.”

Families remember Sarah and Tanner

While Clark and Pehl may have crossed paths as far back as middle school, Pehl’s father, Dave Pehl, believes they might have been kindred spirits.

Clark played the piano, Tanner Pehl played guitar, and it’s possible they bonded over music that night, Dave Pehl suggested.

“I believe him and Sarah are boozin’ buddies up in heaven,” Dave Pehl said. “Maybe it’s good they died together, so they could go up (to heaven) at the same time.”

Friends and family remembered Clark as a vivacious, adventurous, tough and quirky soul who wanted the most out of life. Her laugh was loud and infectious, and her smile, forcing dimples on her face, was contagious. Sara Stenerson, who spoke Monday, recalled her best friend kept many air freshener trees inside of her car. The remark brought a smile to the family sitting in the gallery.

To memorialize Clark, Stenerson read aloud in court an old note her friend passed to her in school. She kept it all these years later as a reminder of who Clark was, she said.

“Oh how I miss you, we haven’t hung out in way too long,” the note said.

Clark wrote the note during math class, but clearly was not paying attention, because she wanted to go see her friend at track practice instead.

“I wish that I was able to help you with the whole (crush on a boy) situation … You are going to come out of this stronger and smarter … You are my best friend and I love you. But I am going to end this because math is over.”

After Stenerson read the note, she said she could still feel Clark’s presence. Her sisters have gone on to have children – children who they would have wanted their aunt to meet. One of them is now the same age Clark was, is going to the same high school and frequently speaks to the same teacher Clark had at the time of her murder.

“I was 24 years old then,” Clark’s sister, Emily Gant, told the court. “I have lived so much life since that day. She did not get that chance.”

Tanner Pehl was remembered by family as the guy who would give someone the shirt off his back, literally – one time someone said he liked his band tee, and he knew how rare it was. So he just took it off and drove home bare-chested.

“I lost a best friend,” his brother, Matthew Pehl, said in a statement Monday.

Tanner Pehl had a white wall in his bedroom on which his mother let his friends write with marker. As every young adult might have done, his brother said, they could have scribbled vulgarities or R-rated comments on the wall to be funny. But his friends decided to write messages to him on the wall instead.

“Suddenly neighbors… Family… Missionaries stopping by to talk about God would write on his wall. Everyone was welcomed with a black Sharpie,” Matthew Pehl’s statement said. “My memories are tainted, wondering if his murderer would have been invited to write on that wall.”

Tanner Pehl was a chef and loved to cook. He took pride in food, his faith and his family, his father said. There was a reason Pehl befriended someone like Crenshaw – because that’s just the type of person he was, his family said.

An 18-year tension flowed through the courtroom Monday. Each family, including Crenshaw’s, who also lost a son to prison, spared no emotion. Pehl’s mother walked back to her seat, right behind Crenshaw’s family, in tears.

Someone in Crenshaw’s family turned behind them to face the Pehl family, and the Pehl family retorted back, although it’s unclear what was said.

That’s when Crenshaw’s mother snapped and yelled at the family behind her, her voice echoing throughout the courtroom.

“I am going to clear the courtroom if you cannot behave,” Spokane County Superior Court Judge Dean Chuang said. “For everyone’s sake, behave yourselves right now.”

Surrounded by three corrections officers, Crenshaw was taken in and out in cuffs, often giving his family in the gallery a thumbs-up, or mouthing “I love you.” After that interaction, he looked to his mom and motioned at her, asking if she was OK.

Katie Hays, Tanner Pehl’s older sister, left the courtroom in tears after the disturbance.

Hays, who attended the trial, has always shown up for her brother. Through then until now, she has continued to speak and publicly remember Tanner Pehl. Instead of chastising her brother’s killer, she instead wanted it to feel more like a conversation, she said.

She began her statement with “Hi, Justin.”

“I realized the day that Tanner was murdered that Heavenly Father was sad for both of you,” said Hays, a Christian. “Because you’re both his children.”

Hays said she wants to look to forgive Crenshaw. But the fact he’s assaulted other people in prison and never attempted to “get better” breaks her heart. If he had, or if he had shown remorse toward her family, maybe she’d be more sympathetic.

“We’re all human. But the thing that scares me the most is, I really don’t know if you really take to heart how dangerous you can be. I would give anything to be here today if you have been upstanding, if you had done good things in prison,” Hays said. “But it’s such a bummer, because I do believe that people make mistakes. We all do. The important part is owning them and saying you’re sorry.

“And I wish so badly that that was the case.”

Crenshaw’s hearing did not conclude fully on Monday. He is expected to face his new sentence on Tuesday or Wednesday. Crenshaw is currently housed in the Spokane County Jail for his hearing but remains in a correctional facility in Tumwater.

For more information on the trial of Justin Crenshaw, click here.