LOS ANGELES — A paraplegic was sentenced yesterday to life in prison for killing a Hawai'i man who was attending the University of Southern California.

Angel Cruz was convicted in the 2004 murder of Max Hazlett, a 21-year-old economics and Chinese major who was a 2001 graduate of Punahou School. Hazlett, who had accepted a free ride from Cruz, was shot twice in the chest during a "robbery gone bad," Deputy District Attorney Hoon Chun said during the trial.

Jurors were shown a video of a police interview in which Cruz's parents admitted they helped their disabled son dump Hazlett's body. The defense sought to declare a mistrial, arguing the evidence may have been prejudicial.

Superior Court Judge Rand S. Rubin denied the request.

Cruz's parents were each charged with being accessories after the fact and were sentenced to several months in jail.

Hazlett's body was found at 5:30 a.m. April 3, 2004, on a street in downtown Los Angeles, about a block away from his Promenade Towers apartment on Figueroa Street. He had been shot several times in the upper body, police said.

He was last seen when friends dropped him off near his home at 2 a.m. after a night on the town.

Hazlett could speak German and Spanish and was studying Mandarin. He spent the summer of 2003 in Taiwan and was planning on returning the next summer, said his father, Honolulu attorney Mark Hazlett.