A Connecticut man convicted of killing Ewing Scroggs, 83, during a 1989 burglary of the victim’s Pacific Beach home has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentencing process for Howard Dean Jamison, 53, was brief because the sentence is mandatory for someone convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of murder during a residential burglary. Jamison remained silent on Oct. 27 when San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren gave him the maximum sentence and a $10,000 fine. The judge noted that Jamison has spent 1,589 days in jail since his arrest in September 2009, but those credits are meaningless with a life without parole sentence. A jury convicted him Sept. 26. Jamison accidently cut himself during the repeated stabbing of Scroggs and his blood was preserved by investigators. DNA tests — including that collected from a stamped-out Marlboro cigarette in the bathroom — showed the killer was Jamison. Deputy District Attorney Allison Worden said Jamison was living in Pacific Beach as a transient when Scroggs was stabbed to death on Dec. 8, 1989 at his home on Mission Boulevard. Scroggs was a widower and the house was torn down years later. Worden said advances in DNA testing allowed for the cold case to be solved. Jamison had been arrested in an unrelated case before the murder and his DNA had been kept on file. The defense rested without calling a single witness, but Jamison’s attorney, Troy Britt, argued for acquittal. He conceded his client had been in the victim’s home — as evidenced by the DNA — but said the cigarette butt could have been tracked into the home years earlier. Britt said the DNA evidence only showed Jamison had been there, but not when. He said there was no evidence of his client’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails, no fingerprints and no hair. The victim’s pants pockets were turned inside out and drawers were pulled out. Scroggs’ wallet was found nearby with the cash and credit cards taken.