An Attleboro man will spend the next 35 years in a Rhode Island prison after being sentenced on Monday for the murder of a 26-year-old Liberian immigrant who had recently moved from his native land to Providence for a better life.

Lemar Wilburn, 20, pleaded no contest to stabbing and killing Princeton Miller Jr. on May 7, 2011. Police say Wilburn is a member of the notorious Crips gang.

The Providence Journal reported:

After the sentencing, Mac Shar, Miller's grandfather, said, "Princton Miller Jr. was my hero."

In Providence County Superior Court, Wilborn received a 60-year sentence, with 35 years of that to serve in prison, and the remaining 25 to be suspended with probation.

The murder occured after Miller told Wilburn not to pet a friend's dog, according to the Journal. Wilburn was arrestd in Attleboro five days after the murder when he was found by local authorities after Providence police alerted neighboring communities they had a warrant for his arrest.