Canadian man gets life sentence in grisly murder

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- A Canadian man convicted of beheading and dismembering a man he picked up in a bar was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years Friday.

Justice Glenn Joyal gave Sydney Teerhuis the maximum sentence for second-degree murder stabbing, beheading, castrating, dismembering and disemboweling Robin Greene inside a hotel suite after picking him up at a bar in July 2003.

Teerhuis was found guilty earlier this week.

The convicted killer never denied killing Greene and then cutting him up, but he had sought a conviction for manslaughter, arguing he was too intoxicated to have the intent to kill.

During sentencing arguments, the prosecution said the crime committed in July 2003 was "unimaginably brutal" and Teerhuis was a cold and calculating killer.

The prosecution said it's impossible for a person to be so intoxicated that they wouldn't remember stabbing a man 68 times and cutting up his body with "surgical-like precision" over the course of several hours.

They also cited a series of chilling letters Teerhuis wrote to a Winnipeg man boasting about the slaying and providing graphic details.

Teerhuis testified his numerous letters to Dan Zupansky, a former criminal-turned-author who befriended Teerhuis after he was arrested, were pure fiction meant to sensationalize his story in the hope of better book sales.