AUGUSTA – A Fairfield man was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for a fatal hammer attack last March.

Smoky Heath Jr., who was sentenced by Justice John Atwood in Kennebec County Superior Court, pleaded guilty last month to killing Mark Derosier after a dispute over the sale of a pickup truck.

Heath told police after his arrest that he went to the Benton store where Derosier worked to look at Derosier’s truck. He said he decided not to buy the truck and the two got into a shoving match.

In the ensuing fight, Heath admitted punching, kicking, and hitting Derosier twice in the head with a hammer.

The affidavit also said that Heath’s sister later saw him covered in blood and carrying a bloody hammer. She said he told her, “I only meant to knock him out, but he grabbed something to defend himself, and I had to put the boots on him,” according to the affidavit.

Heath’s brother, Carl Wayne Heath of Fryeburg, is accused of murdering a Bangor taxi driver, also with a hammer.