MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A dying woman's words to a paramedic mean her boyfriend won't spend life in prison in her shooting.

A plea agreement under which Jarvis Payne pleaded guilty to second-degree murder brought him a 15-year sentence pronounced by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward on Tuesday.

The prosecutor told the court Laporsha Hailey told a paramedic that Payne didn't mean to shoot her, according to The Commercial Appeal.

Payne was 20 when the shooting occurred two years ago. He said he and Hailey were awakened by a noise and he got up to see if there was a burglar. He told investigators someone came from behind a shower curtain and he started shooting only to find he had shot his girlfriend.