Yosemite killer sentenced to life, apologizes for dark crime

FRESNO, Calif. - A motel handyman was sentenced to life without parole Thursday for beheading a Yosemite National Park naturalist, clearing the way for his trial in the grisly slayings of three tourists.

Under a plea bargain that spared him the possibility of a death sentence, Cary Stayner, 39, admitted he killed 26-year-old Joie Armstrong last year after kidnapping and trying to sexually assault her.

''I gave in to the terrible dark dreams that I tried to subdue,'' a sobbing Stayner, shackled and wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit, said in federal court. ''The craziness that lurked in my mind for as long as I can remember became a reality in this terrible crime, and I am sorry and ashamed.''

Stayner is also accused of killing Yosemite tourists Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, and their Argentine friend Silvina Pelosso, 16. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty.

The three were last seen alive in February 1999 at a motel where Stayner lived and worked. More than a month later, a burned rental car was found abandoned along logging road. In the trunk were the bodies of Mrs. Sund and Pelosso. Juli Sund's body was found later in a thicket.

Armstrong's headless body was found in the woods near where she lived in the park. Stayner was arrested three days later, after a sweeping investigation and manhunt that began five months earlier when the three tourists disappeared.

In court, Armstrong's mother, Lesli, wept as he addressed her.

''I wish I could take it back, but I can't,'' Stayner told her. ''I wish I could tell you why I did such a thing, but I don't even know myself.''

Stayner's statement in court potentially could be used at his future trial. He avoided any reference to the Sund-Pelosso killings as he expressed his sorrow and shame.

''If there is a God in heaven, I pray for his forgiveness,'' a sobbing Stayner read. ''I cannot expect any forgiveness from Mrs. Armstrong or her family for taking Joie from them. I cannot even ask forgiveness from my own family, who I have hurt so deeply and who have already suffered so much.''

Stayner's mother and father sat in the front row of the courtroom, their heads bowed as they wiped tears from their eyes.

They left the courthouse without comment. Delbert Stayner told The Associated Press on Wednesday that, despite the guilty plea and a confession to law enforcement, he still can't believe his son is a killer.

''He's not that type of a person at all,'' Delbert Stayner said. ''It's still something I can't believe. I just hope it would turn out some other way. But ... it probably won't.''

Stayner's apology in court is likely to be his final public word on the killing. As a condition of the plea bargain, he cannot profit from the killing in any way and must take his story to his grave. But some details of the killing are expected to be revealed when excerpts of his confession are unsealed.

A group of news organizations, including The Associated Press, is seeking access to the documents, and U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii ordered the release of court documents, including parts of the confession.

Defense lawyers have argued that releasing them could jeopardize Stayner's right to a fair trial in the other slayings. They have appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

After Stayner was led from the courtroom in his yellow jumpsuit and wrist and ankle chains, Lesli Armstrong said she and her family were devastated, but said there was a possibility she would forgive Stayner some day.

''I will not live my life festering with anger, hatred and vengeance, I won't do that,'' she said. ''None of that will be productive.''