Man to be sentenced for 1999 Waterbury killing

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A former Waterbury man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in the 1999 killing of a woman who authorities say was held down, assaulted and strangled in a basement.

Forty-nine-year-old Barry Smith was sentenced Tuesday in Waterbury Superior Court. He was convicted of felony murder by a jury in March in the death of 32-year-old former prison guard Michelle McMasters in Waterbury.

Smith and two other Waterbury men were arrested in the killing in 2009 based on new DNA evidence. Lawrence Andrews is serving a 35-year prison sentence and Orenthain Daniel awaits trial.

Police said McMasters was sexually assaulted and strangled, and she knew the three men from the neighborhood.

Smith's lawyer, Vicki Hutchinson, says an appeal to the state Appellate Court is planned.