EAST FELICIANA - After nearly three years in custody, a man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for shooting a woman to death in 2019.

The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office said Ernest Howard plead guilty on Friday to the July 2019 murder of LaShan Lacey at her residence on Cordoba Drive.

Howard was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor and no benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, according to the sheriff's office.

Howard was originally taken into custody July 20, 2019, and deputies said he confessed to shooting Lacey in her home after an altercation.