PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – A man who said he shot his wife thinking she was an intruder was sentenced to 40 years for murder on Friday.

The defense didn’t dispute that Noah Gaston killed his wife with a shotgun blast but contended he thought the person climbing the stairs toward him in the predawn darkness was an intruder.

Prosecutors say Gaston’s wife, Alicia, was close enough for him to recognize her, and that he should’ve noticed she wasn’t in bed. A jury convicted him of murder in November.