Sue was out of the country when Carl and JoAnna Dutcher and their grandson Tony Dutcher were slain at the grandparents' home in rural Park County near Guffey. Prosecutors said Sue ordered the killings to test the loyalty of members of a small, secretive group of students at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs.
Authorities said Isaac Robin-McCain Grimes, then 15, slit Tony Dutcher's throat and Jonathan Matheny, then 17, shot and killed the grandparents.
Grimes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Sue and Grimes are expected to testify against Matheny, who is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 10 on first-degree murder charges.
Judge Kenneth Plotz sentenced Sue to 45 years for each count of conspiracy to commit murder, which will run concurrently. Sue received another eight years on the organized crime charge and five years of mandatory probation.
Prosecutors were seeking 60 years.
The sentencing hearing took most of the day, with most of the time taken up by character witnesses for Sue.
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