A Buffalo woman who beat her boyfriend to death with a ceramic statue as he dozed off has been sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Authorities say Debra Haynes-Thomas turned on all the burners of a gas stove and lit a candle after killing 56-year-old Peter Wiepert inside his home in the suburb of Cheektowaga in November.

She was arrested a few days later at a Rochester-area hotel. Haynes-Thomas was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in March.

She admits she struck Wiepert multiple times in the head with a 1-by-2-foot statue of a German shepherd as he was falling asleep after an argument.