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(CNN) -- Raymond Clark III, a Yale University lab technician who pleaded guilty to murder in the killing of a graduate student in 2009, will be formally sentenced Friday.
Clark is expected to receive 44 years in prison as part of a plea agreement struck in March.
Annie Le, 24, was strangled. She had a broken jaw and collarbone, the prosecution said. Clark's DNA was "all over" the crime scene, including in her underwear, the state charged.
Le's body was discovered inside a wall of a Yale lab building four days later after an extensive search by the FBI and police.
Clark, 26, admitted the facts as the prosecution presented them but pleaded guilty under a legal precedent that allows him to do so while still officially protesting his innocence.
Yale lab technician admits to slaying
Clark pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, which allows a defendant to assert that he is innocent but plead guilty when he "intelligently concludes that his interests require a guilty plea and the record strongly evidences guilt."
Clark had pleaded not guilty in January 2010.
Le was pursuing a doctorate in pharmacology at Yale when she went missing September 8, 2009.
She had planned to marry Columbia graduate student Jonathan Widawsky on the day her body was found.
Clark was not a Yale student but had worked as a lab technician at the university since 2004, after graduating from high school. He lived with his girlfriend, who is also a lab technician, according to police.
A Yale faculty member described Clark's job as maintaining colonies for animals used in research.
Clark is expected to receive 44 years in prison as part of a plea agreement struck in March.
Annie Le, 24, was strangled. She had a broken jaw and collarbone, the prosecution said. Clark's DNA was "all over" the crime scene, including in her underwear, the state charged.
Le's body was discovered inside a wall of a Yale lab building four days later after an extensive search by the FBI and police.
Clark, 26, admitted the facts as the prosecution presented them but pleaded guilty under a legal precedent that allows him to do so while still officially protesting his innocence.
Yale lab technician admits to slaying
Clark pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, which allows a defendant to assert that he is innocent but plead guilty when he "intelligently concludes that his interests require a guilty plea and the record strongly evidences guilt."
Clark had pleaded not guilty in January 2010.
Le was pursuing a doctorate in pharmacology at Yale when she went missing September 8, 2009.
She had planned to marry Columbia graduate student Jonathan Widawsky on the day her body was found.
Clark was not a Yale student but had worked as a lab technician at the university since 2004, after graduating from high school. He lived with his girlfriend, who is also a lab technician, according to police.
A Yale faculty member described Clark's job as maintaining colonies for animals used in research.