A Phoenix man convicted in 2006 of his wife’s homicide died Saturday in prison.

Jack Allan Sterling, 75, died Saturday at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, according to a news release issued Monday by the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Sterling had been serving a life sentence since December 2006. He pleaded no-contest to a murder charge in the July 22, 2006, stabbing death of 55-year-old Joyce Ann Sterling — then his wife of two years — at their home in the 3900 block of South Pacific Highway in Phoenix, according to Jackson County Circuit Court records.

According to Mail Tribune archives, homicide detectives found Joyce Sterling had at least 10 stab wounds when homicide detectives found her body in the laundry room of their double-wide. Jack Sterling pleaded no-contest, because he claimed he did not mean to kill his wife.