SAN DIEGO -- The man who shot and killed a UCSD professor investigating suspicious noises in the middle of the night more than 14 years ago was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in state prison.

Alvin Timbol, now 33, pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and the use of a gun in the Nov. 14, 1995, slaying of 30-year-old David Hessler.

Hessler was four months away from his wedding day when he was shot in front of his University City home.

Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey said Hessler had left computer equipment in his car overnight, in preparation for a presentation to neuroscientists at the downtown Convention Center later that morning.

About 2 a.m., a group of five car burglars, including Timbol, drove 18 miles from Skyline to Hessler's neighborhood to steal the equipment of out his Nissan Pathfinder, a car model they specialized in because they were easy to break in to, the prosecutor said.

Something alerted Hessler and he went outside wearing only a bathrobe he had made for his fiancee, Kimberly Kuney, Harvey said.

The burglars retreated to their vehicle parked up the street, and Timbol leaned out the window and fired one shot at the victim as their car sped away, the prosecutor said. Hessler -- who was unarmed -- died next to the car.

The case went unsolved until February 2008, when a review of fingerprint evidence from Hessler's car led detectives to co-defendant Buzie Weimer.

Weimer pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and testified against his co-defendants at a preliminary hearing last July.

Alvin Figuracion, Khoi Bruster and Edul Azeez pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges. Figuracion, now 31, was sentenced Friday to a suspended six-year prison term, five years probation and given credit for more than a year in jail.

The judge said the fact that Figuracion was only 16 at the time of the murder, and accompanied the burglary gang for the first time that night, was a factor in his decision to give him probation. Any serious law violation will mean the six-year prison sentence will be imposed, the judge said.

"None of us should be here today," Dr. Robert Hessler, the victim's father, said before Timbol was sentenced.

The father said Timbol brought a gun in the car and "had to have the last word."

Robert Hessler said a "hasty, stupid decision" ruined Timbol's life.

Kuney called her fiance a "genius" who preferred to use his talent to benefit humanity rather than profit from it.

"He made the most of every waking moment," Kuney said.

Before Timbol was sentenced, defense attorney Marc Carlos said his client was 19 at the time of the shooting and got the gun from an acquaintance.

Carlos said Timbol -- who is now married with a 9-year-old son -- fired a single shot out of the window to ward off the victim.

For his part, Timbol apologized to the victim's family.

"What happened 15 years ago was a mere freak accident," the defendant said. "I took a man's life and obviously, he was a very good man."

Prosecutor James Koerber said a "cold case" investigation is "doubly cruel" because it forces the victims to relieve the murder a second time.

"And these men (the defendants) had the answer all that time," the prosecutor said.

Judge Robert F. O'Neill called the shooting "senseless."

"To kill someone for someone for computer equipment, that's what it boils down to," the judge said. "There's no reason to have a gun. No reason whatsoever. You left this family to be tortured, quite frankly."

Bruster, Azeez and Weimer are scheduled to be sentenced April 23.