NEWTON ? A Wichita man convicted of stabbing a Burrton man to death will spend 50 years in prison.

Harvey County District Court Judge Carl B. Anderson on Friday sentenced Robert J. Englehardt, 28, to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Englehardt was convicted of first-degree murder in November in the June 2001 death of Michael Smith, 24.

Harvey County jurors found that Englehardt was the primary attacker in an early morning assault. Prosecutors said Englehardt and his friend, Brian Smith, worked together in the torture and killing because they suspected that Michael Smith was an informant.

Smith was stabbed at least 48 times, and his body was dumped near a pond north of Newton.

Brian Smith was sentenced Nov. 15 to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.