Five years after an 85-year-old man took a fatal blow to the head during the robbery of his Roanoke business, Lloyd Daren Howell was convicted of the crime Monday.

As part of an agreement reached in Roanoke Circuit Court, Howell pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and robbery. The 48-year-old, who was already incarcerated on unrelated charges, received another eight years in prison.

The victim in the case, Junior Agee, was working in his vacuum and sewing machine shop on Melrose Avenue on Nov. 17, 2004, when a man walked in and offered to sell him some trinkets.

When Agee turned his back on the man, he was struck in the head with an unknown object. The 85-year-old refused medical treatment at the scene but was taken to the hospital later in the day by family members.

Agee slipped into a coma the next day and died Dec. 7, 2004.

In the five years that followed, authorities pieced together a circumstantial case against Howell.

A jury trial had been scheduled for Monday, but attorneys on both sides decided the risks were too great.

"We certainly believe that beyond a reasonable doubt he did it, but we wanted to be sure we got some justice for what happened to Mr. Agee and for his family," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sandra Workman said.

From a crime scene that offered few clues, police were eventually drawn to Howell after learning that the ceramic dogs and pewter goblets he brought to Agee's business the day of the crime belonged to a woman who had taken him in as a boarder.

Police also learned that Howell tried to use his victim's credit card at a gas station.

And after Howell was arrested on an unrelated robbery charge, at least one inmate in the Roanoke City Jail told authorities that he had made incriminating statements.

Under the plea agreement, a first-degree murder charge was reduced to second-degree murder. Circuit Court Judge Charlie Dorsey sentenced Howell to 20 years for the murder, suspended after he serves eight years. Howell received a five-year suspended sentence for robbery.

Howell had rejected the offer last week but apparently had second thoughts over the weekend and pleaded no contest shortly before his jury trial would have begun.

"It was a circumstantial case, and with the risk of litigation, I think we got a pretty good result," said his attorney, David Steidle.

Howell has been in prison since 2005, serving a 16-year sentence for robbing a Pizza Hut and burglarizing a home.