WESTMORELAND, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in the 2014 slaying of his 70-year-old uncle.

37-year-old Christopher Arand of rural Belvue was sentenced Thursday in the death of Larry Arand, who was beaten in the back of the head with brass knuckles before being suffocated with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2014.

Arand pleaded guilty in October to premeditated first-degree murder just before jury selection was scheduled to begin in his trial.

Pottawatomie County District Judge Jeff Elder said he decided not to give Arand a Hard 50 sentence because of Arand’s mental health status and to spare his family additional grief.

Arand also admitted killing his uncle’s cat.

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Associated Press information from: KMAN-AM