Douglas Hales has been found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2004 killing of Daleen Bosse, a 25-year-old Saskatoon mother and University of Saskatchewan student.

He was sentenced to life in prison and the judge ordered that Hales may not apply for parole until he has served 15 years.

According to his lawyer, Hales will get credit for the six years he has spent in custody awaiting trial. That credit will be on a one-for-one basis. Based on that, Hales may apply for parole in nine years.

His lawyer also said the guilty decision will be appealed.

Hales was on trial for first-degree murder. The judge on the case, Gerald Allbright, ruled the killing was not planned and deliberate — essential elements for a first-degree murder conviction.

The automatic sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison.

"I hope he stays in jail for a very long time. I hope he hurts every day," Edna Bignell, an aunt of Bosse's, said Thursday. "All the pain that we all feel, I hope he really really really feels it."

Hales was seen quietly crying when sentencing arguments began. The Crown prosecutor wanted the judge to set parole eligibility at 20 years.

"I don't feel sorry for you. You made a choice that night," Daleen Bosse's sister-in-law said Thursday in a victim impact statement.

Another relative said Bosse's daughter suffers from a fear of abandonment and has wondered every day where her mother went.

Bosse was reported missing in May of 2004, but it wasn't until 2008 that police — working undercover using a Mr. Big Sting — were able to get Hales to reveal he was responsible for the woman's death.

Hales — a nightclub bouncer — said he had strangled Daleen Bosse and burned her body after a night of partying.

In his decision Thursday, Judge Allbright said Hales caused Bosse's death by strangulation or fire.

Hales' lawyer, Bob Hrycan, said an appeal of the conviction will focus on the undercover Mr. Big Sting.

Bosse was last seen at a Saskatoon nightclub, where Hales worked as a bouncer, on the long weekend in May of 2004.

After Hales was charged, the case took several years to work its way through the court process. At his trial, which took place in June, Hales claimed that Bosse died of alcohol poisoning that night and that he clumsily disposed of her body because he panicked.

He said that he inflated his role in her death when confessing to undercover officers because he believed they were powerful criminals and he wanted to impress them.

The case took another legal twist when the Supreme Court came out with a decision on Mr. Big Stings, and called into question the technique. That ruling prompted Hrycan to first seek a mistrial, and then re-open the trial to call new evidence.

He was unsuccessful on both counts.