ST. LOUIS – A month after being convicted for a 2022 murder, a St. Louis man returned to court on Wednesday to be sentenced.

Prosecutors with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office said Jeffery L. Lumzy, 54, shot and killed Jeffrey Avant on Dec. 29, 2022.

Lumzy had been upset with his ex-girlfriend over child support and went to her home in the Carr Square neighborhood. Lumzy forced his way inside and shot Avant in the chest while the latter was sitting on a couch.

Lumzy absconded to Chicago in his ex-girlfriend’s car but was eventually arrested and extradited back to St. Louis to face trial.

During last month’s trial, Lumzy said he shot Avant in self-defense, claiming Avant had reached for a firearm.

Jurors did not believe Lumzy’s claim and found him guilty of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, first-degree burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm, and stealing a motor vehicle.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison handed down a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder charge. Lumzy also received a consecutive sentence of 15 years for armed criminal action.