Fairbanks teen sentenced for killing taxi driver

FAIRBANKS (AP) -- A Fairbanks teen was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for the brutal slaying of a Fairbanks taxi driver two years ago.

Superior Court Judge Charles Pengilly called Dale Depue Jr., 19, a ''sociopath'' who showed little remorse for his role in the killing of Maurice Lee Smith.

Depue, the second of three participants to be charged for the 1998 murder of Smith, was given the maximum sentence of 20 years for manslaughter with five years suspended because of his testimony against accomplice John Holloway.

Holloway, convicted of manslaughter by a jury in March, will be sentenced Aug. 3. The third member of the trio, Shawn Aldridge, was sentenced to 20 years in jail last week after entering a plea of no contest to second-degree murder and also testifying against Holloway.

All three men were originally charged with first-degree murder after luring the 32-year-old cabby into a wooded area, beating him unconscious and then slashing his throat.

In handing down the sentence, Pengilly noted that Depue has been a constant offender since the age of 9 with ''an essentially unbroken history of crime'' until turning state's evidence.