A New London man pleaded guilty in Superior Court Monday to the Nov. 28, 2016, beating death of 38-year-old Marlon Beasley in the Williams Park Apartments.

Edgar Sanchez-Valencia, 46, will be sentenced Aug. 15 to 10 years in prison followed by three years probation for first-degree manslaughter. He pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates he disputes the state's version of the incident, but does not want to risk going to trial, where he could face a lengthier sentence if convicted.

Beasley's sister, who has been following the court proceedings and working with a court-based victim advocate and a representative of Survivors of Homicide, was not in court to hear Sanchez-Valencia plead guilty. She may address the court at the sentencing hearing.

Beasley, who was legally blind, and Sanchez-Valencia, who suffers from epilepsy, both lived at the apartment complex for seniors and disabled people at 127 Hempstead St. in New London. Both were drinking at a party at the complex early Thanksgiving morning when the host said he asked Beasley to leave because Beasley was being disrespectful to the woman he was with, according to police.

Sanchez-Valencia left the party and returned some time later and told the host he had punched and kicked Beasley because Beasley was being disrespectful to the woman. A witness to the beating said he saw Sanchez-Valencia kicking Beasley while he was on the ground.

Beasley, who lived on the third floor, was lying on the floor in front of a fourth-floor apartment, unconscious, not breathing and bleeding from the mouth and nose, when police and firefighters were called to the apartment complex at 3:43 a.m. for a report of a fight. He was resuscitated and taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, then transferred to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he died.

 The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the cause of death was complications from blunt force head trauma and facial fractures.

Police charged Sanchez-Valencia initially with second-degree assault. State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla added the manslaughter charge following Beasley death. Tytla said Monday that it would have been difficult for the state to prove Sanchez-Valencia intended to kill Beasley had the case gone to trial. He said the state offered the plea deal based on an assessment of the evidence and the defendant's lack of a criminal record.

Beasley was represented by attorney Joseph E. Lopez from the public defender's office.

k.florin@theday.com