A South St. Paul man who won a new trial and was convicted yet again for murdering his girlfriend was sentenced Monday to a prison term of nearly 29 years.

Thomas M. Luby, 62, was convicted anew by jurors in December of second-degree murder in connection with the August 2015 stabbing of Kelly A. Anderson, also of South St. Paul.

With credit for time incarcerated since his arrest, Luby will serve nearly 19 years in prison and the balance on supervised release. He was sentenced to life in prison after his initial conviction by a jury in April 2016 for first-degree murder, but that verdict was overturned on appeal to the state Supreme Court after the court found that his attorney conceded elements of guilt against the defendant's wishes.

According to investigators, Luby told a 911 dispatcher that there was a dead woman in his home and "I killed her."

Officers arrived at the residence in the 500 block of S. 9th Avenue and found Anderson on the living room floor, with a large kitchen knife in her right hand. According to a search warrant, Luby said he didn't know how the knife got there.

Luby told officers that he and Anderson had been drinking and that she became upset with him and stabbed him in the neck. He then stabbed her, he said, in self-defense.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482