LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Eudora man who strangled his disabled home-care client to death in September 2014 has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 49-year-old Ronald Eugene Heskett was accused of asphyxiating 65-year-old Vance Moulton by twisting a towel around his neck. Heskett was originally charged with first-degree murder, but jurors found him guilty of the lesser second-degree murder.

Heskett has said since September 2014 that the killing of Moulton, who had cerebral palsy, was an assisted suicide.

Douglas County District Judge Peggy Kittel sentenced Heskett to 195 months in prison, although his attorney had asked the judge to sentence Heskett to less time than what state guidelines suggested for a defendant with his criminal history.

Heskett was previously convicted of felony criminal damage to property and misdemeanor trespassing in 1986.