A man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty on Monday to second-degree murder and other charges in the killing of a University of Mississippi graduate who was prominent in the LGBTQ community. 

Sheldon "Timothy" Herrington Jr. entered the plea as he faced a second trial over the death of Jimmy "Jay" Lee, who disappeared from Oxford, Mississippi, in July 2022 and was later found dead. 

Herrington will serve 30 years for the second-degree murder charge and 10 years for tampering with evidence. His sentence also includes five years of supervised post-release and another five years of unsupervised post-release. 

Herrington was arrested two weeks after Lee vanished and was later charged with capital murder. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, CBS affiliate WREG reported. The state has said in court that it did not intend to seek the death penalty in his case, according to the news station.

A judge declared a mistrial last year when jurors failed to reach a verdict after more than nine and a half hours of deliberation. They had been instructed to find Herrington guilty of either capital murder, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter by culpable negligence, or find him not guilty, WREG reported at the time.

Lee's body had not yet been found when Herrington's first trial took place, although a judge had declared him dead. But, in February of this year, deer hunters stumbled upon Lee's skeletal remains in a wooded area, according to Mississippi Today.

During the first trial, prosecutors claimed Herrington, who was not openly gay, killed Lee after the two had a sexual encounter.

Campus cameras showed Lee leaving his apartment shortly before 4 a.m. the day he disappeared. He returned 40 minutes later, before leaving again just before 6 a.m.

Prosecutors allege Lee had been at Herrington's apartment, and that when Lee left Herrington's apartment, he was upset. Herrington, they said, invited Lee back and searched "how long does it take to strangle someone" online before Lee arrived.

The final text message from Lee's phone was sent to a social media account belonging to Herrington at 6:03 a.m. from a spot near Herrington's apartment, law enforcement testified. Accounts belonging to Herrington and Lee had previously exchanged sexually explicit messages, they said.

Herrington was later captured by surveillance video jogging out of a parking lot where Lee's car was found. He was also seen picking up a shovel and wheelbarrow at his parents' house, authorities said.

Herrington is from Grenada, Mississippi, about 52 miles southwest of Oxford. Lee's body was found in neighboring Carroll County.

Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi.

Lee had been pursuing a master's degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee.

His lawyers were not immediately available for comment.