A Hudson Valley man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the brutal killing of a marijuana grower.

Michael Andrew Kane appeared in court this week for sentencing after admitting to a grisly murder and theft of 100 pounds of pot. The Pleasantville, New York man was working as one of seven marijuana trimmers for Jeffery Quinn Settler's farm just northwest of Laytonville, California.

According to The Press Democrat, Kane and the other workers were evicted from the farm in 2016 after a dispute over money. The employees returned after hours and entered a shed where marijuana is stored to find Settler asleep. The seven men brutally beat them farmer and stabbed him with a hatchet. The farmer fought back, as evidenced by his defensive wounds, but was eventually killed by the seven men.

Kane fled to Mexico after the murder, eventually surrendering himself at the border after he said he was "tired of running."  The pot trimmer pled guilty to "voluntary manslaughter by use of a hatchet and robbery of an inhabited dwelling while acting in concert with others." Both felonies carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

This week a judge sentenced Kane to the maximum. Because the crimes were so violent, the judge also declared that any credits earned for good behavior will only be allowed to go towards lowering Kane's sentence by 15 percent.

The other six men will be sentenced on Friday.

 

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