Joel Allen yesterday was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole today for killing a transgendered female in his car in Makiki on July 17, 2008.

Circuit Judge Michael Town imposed the sentence.

Allen claimed he acted in self-defense after the victim, who used the names Jaylynn and Lynette Namauu, struck him, threatened to kill him and demanded $250.

A jury found Allen guilty of second-degree murder in November.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Allen killed Namauu in a lover's quarrel.

The pair were in a parked car under a freeway overpass near Cartwright Field in Makiki.