The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the 50-year to life sentence of a man who beat his ex-girlfriend to death.

William Pereira was sentenced last year in Lancaster County District after pleading no contest to second-degree murder.

Pereira killed 19-year-old Alissa Magoon in December 2010 in a fit of jealous rage, suspecting her of seeing another man.

Police summoned to Magoon’s Lincoln apartment discovered Pereira, a 27-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, beating Magoon on the head with a piece of wood. She died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

In his appeal, Pereira had argued that his sentence was excessive, but the state’s high court said Friday that his sentence is within the range set by state law.