A jury convicted Jace Crehan of second-degree murder Thursday, the New York Post reports. Crehan, 23, has said he’s “not sorry” that he killed the man who molested his girlfriend.
Crehan was found guilty on Louisiana for the July 2015 murder of Robert Noce, Jr. According to The Advocate, just after he was arrested and had confessed to the murder, Crehan said, “I feel a lot better. It’s not regret. Is it remorse? I’m not sorry for what I did.”
Noce, 47, was found dead in his Zachary, Louisiana home while he was on five years probation for pleading no contest to sexually molesting Crehan’s girlfriend, Brittany Monk. Noce had been repeatedly stabbed and strangled.
Noce was involved with Monk’s mother and the accusations of sexual assault occurred while Brittany Monk was between the ages of four and 12
Previous to this weeks verdict, Brittany Monk had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and has admitted to unlawfully entering Noce’s trailer and assaulting him.
Crehan had asked the court to acquit him or reduce the crime to manslaughter, according to The Advocate.
The prosecution wouldn’t budge from its insistence that Crehan be charged with second degree murder. In their closing statements to the jury, prosecutors Eli Abad and Darwin Miller said Crehan made a conscious choice to kill Noce.
District Attorney Hillar Moore III reiterated that contention, saying Crehan’s conviction was an affirmation of American justice.
“You don’t want people going out and taking justice into their own hands,” he said.
But Crehan says he killed Noce because the justice system wasn’t working and had “failed” as far as he girlfriend was concerned.
At a Jan. 18 sentencing date, Crehan could get life in prison while Monk’s punishment could be 40 years in jail.