ST. LOUIS COUNTY - A Washington Park man was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Wednesday for fatally shooting another man in a drug dispute.

Darius A. Jenkins, 34, was convicted by a jury in December of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Dominic Brown in July 2009. The men had argued over a heroin transaction, prosecutors said.

Jenkins will not be eligible for early release.

Brown's murder was Jenkins’ fifth felony conviction. He had previously been convicted of burglary, drug and weapons offenses, according to authorities.