FILE - This undated file photo from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows convicted sex offender Clarence Dean, who was sentenced in New York on Monday, April 17, 2017, to 25 years to life in prison for strangling a woman to death in a Times Square budget hotel. Dean was sentenced nearly a decade after killing Kristine Yitref, a onetime design student who had become a drug-addicted prostitute. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP, File) (The Associated Press)
NEW YORK – A man convicted of murdering a woman in a Times Square budget hotel has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, nearly a decade after the killing.
Clarence Dean was sentenced Monday.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. says Dean "committed a merciless and brutal act of violence against a vulnerable woman."
Dean's lawyer didn't immediately return a call Monday for comment. He has said Dean plans to appeal.
Prosecutors said Dean killed Kristine Yitref in a rage in August 2007.
He was a convicted sex offender. She was a onetime design student who had become a drug-addicted prostitute.
Dean admitted choking Yitref, but denied killing her. He said he blacked out while defending himself from her and her pimp.
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