A Hartford man who fatally stabbed his great-uncle in Florida last year was sentenced to 20 years in prison this week.

Dakota Lavanway, 23, pleaded no contest Wednesday to one count of manslaughter for the stabbing of 61-year-old Gerald Becker Sr., a former Claremont resident, in Calhoun County, Fla., last year.

Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Shonna Gay sentenced Lavanway to 20 years in Florida’s Department of Corrections following the plea, according to a news release from the county attorney’s office.

Becker, Lavanway and several other family members had been living in Florida, where they’d moved following Hurricane Michael in 2018, according to an affidavit written by a Calhoun County Sheriff’s officer.

A family member told the Calhoun Liberty Journal that they went to Florida in hopes of finding cleanup work after the hurricane.

For Becker’s daughter, the news of Lavanway’s sentencing was frustrating.

“Sixteen years? For taking someone else’s life?” Kirsten Eastman, of New York, said in a phone interview Friday.

She added that Lavanway was told by police to stay away from her father prior to the shooting.

“I think the outcome is selfish and unfair.” Eastman said.

The plea is a change from Lavanway’s initial charge of second-degree murder following a fight with Becker in mid-January 2019.

The issues began the morning of Jan. 17, when Becker’s family members told police Becker had threatened them with a knife over allegedly stealing his tools, the affidavit said.

Police officers who responded to the dispute told the family members to “stay away from each other,” the affidavit said.

But tensions escalated just hours later, when family members, including Lavanway, showed up at a campsite on the Mossy Pond Landing in Altha, Fla., where Becker was living.

Lavanway told police a fight ensued; Becker hit him with a pipe, and Lavanway punched him in the face, according to the affidavit.

In an interview with police, Lavanway denied stabbing his great-uncle but did say Becker “got a … hole in his leg.”

Becker died at the hospital two days later.

Eastman said the death of her father has dealt a blow to her family,

“Our family has been tortured,” she said. “There are three sides to every story … but my dad can’t tell his side.”

She added that her father had a troubled past but had been working to better his life. Now, she said, he’ll never get to see his grandchildren grow up.

“I guess, out of everything, it’s still not fair that he’s not here,” she said.

Lavanway has one prior conviction on his record in Windsor County. He was found guilty in 2015 of disorderly conduct, court documents say.

Messages to Calhoun County Assistant State’s Attorney William Wright and Public Defender Derek Blount were not returned Friday.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com.