Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Gay Man and Burning Body

Andrew Czarnecki has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder and mutilation of a gay man, The Detroit News reports.

Judge Michael Hathaway, in Detroit's Wayne County Circuit Court, delivered the sentence to the 24-year-old New York resident. Czarnecki received additional jail time for armed robbery (11-20 years) and mutilation of a dead body (up to 11 years).

Czarnecki was found guilty of robbing and murdering Rodriguez and later burning the body. His remains were found in Detroit. Rodriguez was last seen alive July 10, 2013.

Hathaway said in his sentencing that it "was pretty obvious that this defendant committed and helped someone else commit along the way an unspeakably ... horrible crime, so this is not a verdict or sentence that I have any second thoughts or reservations about at all."

A trial for Czarnecki's codefendant, Hameer Alkotai, is set for March 6.

Dana Nessel, Michigan's attorney general-elect and the first openly gay person elected to statewide office there, released a statement in response to the conviction as the president of the Fair Michigan Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring legal protection for women and LGBTQ people.

"This conviction in a cold-case murder of a gay man illustrates the Fair Michigan Justice Project's resolve, in association with the Prosecutor's Office, to investigate and vigorously prosecute serious crimes against the LGBTQ community," Nessel stated.