BANGOR (AP) – A Bangor man has been handed a nine-year prison term for manslaughter in the death of a man he admitted beating during a party in Bangor more than two years ago.

Bruce Mann, 45, showed no emotion when he was sentenced Friday in Penobscot County Superior Court to 14 years, with all but nine years suspended, in the death of Jack Sears, 40, of Bangor. Mann also faces six years’ probation upon release.

“This was not a barroom brawl,” Justice Andrew Mead said. “It was not combat by agreement. This was a one-sided beating. Mr. Mann didn’t intend to cause the death of Jack Sears, but this was a bullying, brutal and unjustifiable assault.”

Mann admitted that he hit or kicked Sears at least 11 times in two separate incidents during the party on Nov. 8, 2001. Mann testified that he, Sears and others had been drinking an average of three beers an hour for several days when the altercations took place.

Sears was rushed to Eastern Maine Medical Center the next morning when he began vomiting blood.

He died after undergoing surgery for a head injury. The state medical examiner’s office said the death resulted from blunt force trauma to the head.

Mann maintained that he was not responsible for Sears’ death. He testified that Sears’ live-in companion, Carolyn Fish, told him that she had hit Sears over the head with a pan after he’d gone to bed that night.

Fish denied that she struck Sears with anything.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese had recommended that Mann be sentenced to 25 years in prison with all but five years suspended.

She called Mann’s behavior “outrageous” and said that he had not taken responsibility for the crime or shown any remorse.

In a one-sentence statement to the court, Mann said, “I’m sorry Jack Sears is dead.”

Mann’s lawyer, Stephen Smith of Bangor, said he planned to appeal the sentence.