LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Leavenworth woman has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for beating her mother to death.

Sixty-year-old Victoria Smith was sentenced Friday for intentional second-degree murder in the July 2016 death of Anna Maria Higgins.

The Leavenworth Times reports prosecutors say Smith hit Higgins several times with a flashlight and a three-pound mallet at a home where Smith lived.

Friday’s hearing began with District Judge Gunnar Sundby denying a defense motion to allow Smith to withdraw her no contest plea.

Family members said before sentencing that Smith had a history of abusing Higgins.

Smith told the court she intended only to scare her mother and then “snapped” but she believed she should be sentenced for manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder.