SAN DIEGO -- A convicted child killer who stabbed a 12-year-old girl to death at her Escondido home in 1998 was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison.

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Richard Tuite, 35, was convicted May 26 on voluntary manslaughter charges for the death of Stephanie Crowe.

The seventh-grader was stabbed nine times. Family members found her body in the doorway to her room the morning of Jan. 21, 1998.

Superior Court Judge Frederic Link sentenced the defendant to the maximum term under the law. He ruled that Tuite's extensive criminal record -- dating back to 1989 -- outweighed any mitigating factors.

"I find that definitely his criminal activities do outweigh any possibility of a consideration of a lower term. Therefore, the court does select the upper term," Link said.

Tuite has already spent almost three years in prison and will get credit for time served.

Before sentencing, Link denied Tuite's request for a new trial.

The diagnosed schizophrenic has been in and out of custody and mental institutions for much of his adult life, the judge noted.

Sheri Morton, who spoke for Stephanie's parents, urged Link to sentence Tuite to the maximum. Morton said the family wished Tuite would have been convicted of murder.

"This family will always have a missing part," Morton said. "No one is safe with him on the streets."

But Tuite's mother, Linda Moreno, said her son could never have lived with himself if he had killed Stephanie.

"Richard is a very loving, caring son," his mother told the judge. "He's not the monster that he's been portrayed. He's an innocent man. I'm sorry that it's all come down to this."

Outside the Hall of Justice, Stephen Crowe said his family would continue to live in Escondido.

"My daughter's buried here. We're from here," the father told reporters. "We're not going to let Richard Tuite or the Escondido Police Department chase us away."

The victim's 14-year-old brother, Michael, and friends Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser were originally charged with Stephanie's murder.

Charges were dismissed when the victim's blood was found on Tuite's red sweatshirt.