A Lake Charles man convicted last year in the shooting death of his former fiancee will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Michael E. Vice, 50, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence on one count of second-degree murder.

Vice was accused in August of 2018 of shooting ex-fiancee Lori Tanner, 38, in the head during an argument while they were exiting Interstate 210 onto Lake Street. Vice was driving at the time and Tanner was his passenger.

Lake Charles Police Lt. Kevin Kirkum previously told the American Press that Vice told responding officers Tanner, who was declared at the scene, accidentally shot herself with the pistol.

Kirkum said both Tanner and Vice were originally from Pascagoula, Miss., and had been living in the same Lake Charles apartment complex.

Kirkum said Vice ultimately gave officers multiple versions of what he said happened in the car, but the Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office ruled that Tanner’s gunshot wound was a contact shot.

Calcasieu Parish Assistant District Attorneys Conrad Huber and Charles Robinson said during the trial’s closing arguments that Vice could not accept his relationship with Tanner was over.