A 22-year-old Bloomfield man was sentenced yesterday for stabbing a University of Connecticut football player in 2009. A Rockville Superior Court judge sentenced the man to 18 years in prison, the Hartford Courant reports.

The man's sentence was less than the potential 20 years he faced for his no contest plea to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter. The man was originally charged with murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault.

The no contest plea means that the man did not admit any guilt, but also did not challenge the charges against him. One of the man's lawyers said that the man pleaded no contest to limit any liability in a potential civil suit that he might face for the football player's death.

Family members of the man were outside of the court room during sentencing and incensed by the sentence.

"The family wanted this case to go to trial," a family spokeswoman said. The woman said that the state was more concerned with "getting a conviction than getting the truth."

The spokeswoman said that the case did not go to trial because the family ran out of money to pay an attorney.

The man's lawyer said that the man was "a good person, and if he could take it back, in a second he would. He's genuinely sorry and remorseful."

The Hartford Courant reports that the man gave an emotional apology to the victim's family during sentencing. "I understand how it hurts to lose a loved one. I wouldn't want this to happen to anybody, he said."

Source: Hartford Courant, "UConn Football Player Jasper Howard's Killer Gets 18 Years," David Owens, 3/25/11