A state judge sentenced a 40-year-old man to a life term with possibility of parole for the murder of a visiting university professor 17 years ago.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins imposed the mandatory term on Jason Lee McCormick for the strangulation of Robert T. Henderson whose body was found in a Waikiki apartment in July 1996.

Henderson was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

McCormick confessed the slaying in 2008. He was later charged with second-degree murder.

Perkins presided over the nonjury trial and found McCormick guilty of the charge in June.