FORT WALTON BEACH — An Alabama man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for trying to kill his ex-wife in September 2010.
Okaloosa County Circuit Judge John T. Brown sentenced Michael L. Crump, 55, to a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years for attempted premeditated murder with a firearm and burglary of a dwelling while armed, according to the state attorney’s office.
Crump, of Jasper, Ala., also was sentenced to 15 years for shooting into a building and another year for violating an injunction and possession of a firearm when subject of an injunction.
A jury found Crump guilty Dec. 21.
He was arrested in July 2010 after he went to his ex-wife Laura Lane’s home in Niceville and repeatedly struck and kicked her after they got into an argument. Crump told her that he would kill her if she called law enforcement.
He was arrested in August and posted bond to get out of jail.
On Sept. 20, Crump walked through Lane’s backyard carrying a shotgun. Lane saw Crump aiming the gun at her and managed to get to an upstairs room, where she climbed out a window and ran to a neighbor’s home.
Crump fired the gun at least three times and reloaded it before he went upstairs to look for Lane. When he was unable to find her he fled the scene.
Crump ditched his gun before he was caught, but Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies found it later in Choctawhatchee Bay.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.
