A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for deliberately running down a New York state trooper on an upstate New York highway.

Judge Joseph Cawley imposed the life sentence on Almond Upton on Thursday, calling the crime “nothing less than an assassination.”

The Melrose, Florida, man was previously convicted of first-degree murder in the 2014 death of 42-year-old Trooper Christopher Skinner.

Prosecutors say the trooper was issuing a ticket along Interstate 81 near Binghamton when Upton drove his pickup truck at 93 mph into the officer.

Attorneys for the 62-year-old Florida man argued he was in a “manic state” at the time of the crash, making him unable to understand the consequences of his actions.

(AP)