Mark Crawford Trial: 1999 - Enter The Feds

Crawford was not released, however. By this time, federal prosecutors had secured indictments. They charged not only murder but a whole string of felonies. On January 26, 1999, May moved to have the case dismissed. The court rejected his motion to dismiss because of double jeopardy, because the federal murder charge concerned a different crime than the state charge although the same person was murdered. It also rejected motions to dismiss on several other grounds, such as overly vague charges.

The federal trial was held in Fresno, California, because Crawford was alleged to have defrauded Ararat International, a Fresno-based firm. Six months earlier, the CEO of Ararat had pleaded guilty to embezzlement himself.

At the trial the government piled up evidence showing that millions of illegal dollars had flowed into Crawford's enterprises. This time, Kirk Johnson was charged with a variety of felonies, including murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering, and did not testify about the murder. (In return for his testimony in the state trials, Johnson had been given 10 years probation after pleading guilty to murder.) This time there was no chance of the jury getting conflicting stories.

After deliberating a week, the jury found Crawford guilty on all counts. Judge Oliver Wanger sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole.