JEFFERSON COUNTY — A 27-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to 90-years in prison for the 2015 murder of a Mt. Vernon woman in her home.

Steven Murphy was given the maximum sentence of 60 years in prison for the June 28, 2015 first-degree murder of Tamara Malin. He will have to complete the entire 60 year sentence before he begins to serve at least 85 percent of a consecutive 30 year sentence he was also handed Tuesday in Jefferson County Court for a residential arson of Malin’s home.

A Jefferson County jury found Murphy guilty in August of strangling Tamara Malin to death before setting her house on fire with her body inside.

The defense had admitted at trial that Murphy was guilty of residential arson, but argued Malin was already dead at the time of the fire and blamed Malin’s death on one of Murphy’s friends.

Prosecutors delivered evidence placing Murphy at the Malin home at the time of the murder and fire, as well as placing him in contact with Malin’s body, and a jailhouse confession testified to by a former inmate.

The trial faced one hurdle, when a juror was dismissed for allegedly speaking with a family member of Malin.

Murphy was initially charged in 2015 with aggravated arson and residential arson for the June 28, 2015 fire at Malin’s 301 Harrison Street home before being charged with her murder.