A barbershop worker who killed a homeless man he didn't like by setting him afire in Koreatown in 2008 was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars without the possibility of parole, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced.

Ben Matthew Martin, 31, had already pleaded guilty to counts of first-degree murder, torture and arson causing great bodily injury. He also admitted that special circumstances of torture and lying in wait applied to the case, the D.A.'s office reports.

Martin was known for shooing away homeless people who loitered near the shop at West Third Street and South Vermont Avenue on the northeastern edge of Koreatown. Victim John McGraham, 55, was one of those people, and Martin was fired for going after him one day. The Oct. 9, 2008 arson attack — Martin doused him with gas and sparked a road flare — was his revenge, prosecutors said.

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