SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) A St. Albans man has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for killing his uncle.

Twenty-six-year-old Jeremy Erving was sentenced Wednesday in Somerset County Superior Court after pleading guilty in the 2016 death of 53-year-old Randy Erving. Erving had previously pleaded not guilty because of a mental illness, and his trial was due to begin Thursday.

Police had said Erving admitted to his girlfriend and her father that he killed his uncle after they bailed him out of jail following Erving’s drunken driving arrest on April 8. Randy Erving’s body was found at his McNally Road home, where police said he and his nephew were drinking earlier in the day on April 7.

Jeremy Erving said he was taking responsibility and didn’t know why the shooting happened during sentencing.