A Wilkinson County man received a life sentence plus 20 years after pleading guilty Wednesday to the malice murder and armed robbery of an acquaintance.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright said Thursday that Zachary Allen Beck, 24, changed his plea to guilty Wednesday morning during his trial for the killing of Ronnie Willis Rozier, 54, on Jan. 6, 2011. The 20 years Beck will serve for the armed robbery is concurrent with his life sentence.

Bright said Rozier was shot five times in his Parker Springs Church Road home after Beck, who already owed him money, wanted to borrow more. When Rozier refused, Beck shot him with a semiautomatic handgun he had stolen, then took $300 in cash off Rozier’s body, Bright said Rozier’s wife discovered her husband’s body a few hours later.

Bright said Beck told authorities he had been strung out on pain pills at the time of the killing.